Fragments
by Verran
Summary: After the Mario Brothers bring Princess Peach home safely from her latest kidnapping, it becomes clear that not all is well. Convinced that they're all hiding something, Toadsworth, the princess's guardian, is determined to find out what. But as he discovers, some stones are best left unturned...
1. Fragment 1

**Introduction**

**The fragments of this fic are mostly told in the first person, and occasionally in the present tense. Though some will seem to read like one-shots in a non-chronological order, these fragments should be read in the order they're posted for them to make sense. **

**No knowledge of the fandom or any of my other fics is required to enjoy this one, but for Mario fans and/or those who liked my other fics 'Spirit from the Outer Realm' and 'Therapy', hopefully you'll find things in this one that will resonate.**

**Any OCs you may stumble across have minor roles only.**

**The structure of this fic, the first person POV, and occasional sections of present tense are new challenges for me. So I welcome any constructive criticism, and, well, any kind of review at all.**

* * *

**Fragment 1**

* * *

They came back during the night. When my assistant woke me, he said they'd already been ushered across the drawbridge. I leapt from my bed like a youngster at the news, and grabbed my eyeglasses before he'd even lit the lamp. My old bones would make me pay for that later, but right then, I didn't care. They were back, and I had to know if _she_ was all right.

As I finished dressing, another servant knocked and entered with a pail of kindling wood for the fire. I picked up my pocket-watch from the night stand and attached it to my waistcoat. Still three hours before sunrise.

"Have you seen her yet?" My question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but it was my assistant, Toadlon, who replied first.

"No, but I heard she's okay."

I glanced at him through the reflection in my mirror as I styled my moustache into its proper shape. He'd be a busy Toad, later. There'd be the Princess's homecoming address to prepare. The communications to the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom to send. The Toad Town reception to organise. By the look on his face, it seemed as if her coming home would be more stressful for him than the near disintegration of our land we'd faced during her absence.

"What's the problem, Toadlon? Not glad to have the Princess back?"

"It's not that," he said. "The servants who've seen them look worried. They won't say why."

I turned to look at him. In this dim light, the yellow spots on his head-cap looked so pale they made him look little more than a young Toadling.

"He's right," said the brown-spotted fire lighter, as he heaved himself up and stepped away from the flames in the grate. "I lit the fire for 'em in the red room. They didn't even want lights. Preferred it dark, they said. Somethin' don't seem right with them."

I took up my cane. "There is no reason to think that the great void didn't ravage the Koopa Kingdom, too. Princess Peach must have been through immense trials. They'll all be tired. Besides, it's the middle of the night! Nobody's at their best in the middle of the night. Toadlon, bring your pen. No doubt the Princess will want to recount her adventures. We'll need a scribe in the room."

Toadlon jumped ahead of me and opened the door. As we left my suite of rooms, the fire lighter piped up.

"Master Toadsworth! You want your office prepared, yet? Or should I wait 'til morning?"

"Now, please." These days, if I were to function at all, I needed my workplace to be warm.

* * *

The principal reception room was the grandest in the castle, and to me, the most alien. Fashioned after designs said to come from planet Earth, it hadn't changed much since Princess Peach's distant ancestors appeared in our world and built this castle. The crystal chandeliers, when lit, would scatter glittering light across the carved ceiling and blue painted walls, illuminating the ornate furniture and gilt-framed paintings of Earthly landscapes. Bizarre as it all looked, it suited the princess well, and had been the venue for many successful balls and parties over the years. Tomorrow, it would be full again with people from Toad Town, welcoming her back from the dark lands of the Koopa Kingdom.

We hurried through its shadows to the door leading to a small drawing room at the side. Decorated in deep red with plush furnishings, this room had a cosiness much more suited to a Toad's tastes. I knocked on the door, but in my anticipation, barely waited for a reply. Instead I pushed it open, and walked in on a scene that stopped me so abruptly, Toadlon collided into my back.

She looked tired, her usually pristine hair bedraggled. This was to be expected, of course, what with the time of night, and the adventures she'd no doubt been through. But unusually for her, she didn't raise her eyes to greet me. Instead, she stared at her hands in her lap. Mario perched on the side of the couch where she sat, one hand on her shoulder, the other resting on his knee, his red hat bunched up in his fist.

I drew breath to admonish him. He knew that laying a hand on her unnecessarily was forbidden. But the look in his eye suggested that if I dared challenge him, it would be at my peril.

In the flickering firelight, I almost missed Luigi. He sat on a foot-stool away from the others, in the darkest corner of the room, his hat still on his head, his face turned towards the wall. They all looked like statues in the dark; the platters of food and drink that had been brought to them lay untouched.

"Your Highness." I had to break the silence, somehow. "Are you well?"

She nodded.

"She is as well as she can be." Mario's usually strident voice barely broke a whisper.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Toadlon fumbling with his pen and writing pad. I shook my head at him. Whatever my princess had to say, would best be off the record for now. I was about to dismiss him, when she raised her head.

"I would like the Marios to stay until the morning. Have the guest quarters prepared for them."

My assistant nodded and slipped out of the room. As the door closed behind him, I climbed onto a chair opposite her. I knew that tremor in her voice. I had to ask her. I had to know what had happened.

She wouldn't answer my question, but at least she lifted her eyes to mine. "Did the void come here?"

So, wherever she'd been, she had seen it too. When I told her 'yes', I saw my princess glance at Mario; I saw him squeeze her shoulder with his fingers. That she didn't ask me to describe what happened to our kingdom, was a small mercy. The thought of that great, swirling, purple hole in the sky, encroaching upon our towns and people as it did, swallowing them all into its nothingness, was too much for me to talk about just then. Its unexpected recession had been a miracle; the void regurgitated our land almost unharmed, but the experience of watching everything disappear around us will be a terror that will live with us all for the rest of our lives.

"How have my people fared?" she asked.

"Most who disappeared with the land were returned with it. Others are... missing."

"How many?"

"Thousands, my princess. But..." I could see her already pale face turning a shade whiter - "...some have returned through pipes, since. So now there is hope that they're not dead, just displaced."

Princess Peach lowered her eyes again; I could see a tear glistening between her eyelashes.

"I've been in constant contact with Sarasaland and the Bean Bean Kingdom since the void left us. Their reports are the same. Thousands of their people are still missing, but they're returning, gradually." I hoped this would reassure her, but she didn't move a muscle. "I'll postpone your homecoming address." Even though I tried to make it sound more like a decision than a suggestion, I knew what her response would be.

"No, I will make the speech tomorrow. They'll expect it - they'll need it. Mario can give you the details." Peach stood up, smoothing down her grubby skirts, causing a surprised Mario to jump to his feet, too. "But the reception must be low-key. This is not a celebration. And..." she halted for a moment - "increase security. I think Bowser is planning to attack very soon."

I straightened up in surprise. Never before had she increased security directly on her return. King Bowser always needed time to rebuild his forces after facing Mario. But I couldn't protest. My job, among other things, is to protect her. "Of course, my princess. Are you retiring, now?"

She nodded, again. "Good night, Toadsworth. And I'm sorry..."

"I'm just thankful you're home and safe, Peach."

She gave an appreciative smile. "Good night, Mario," she said, and then turning to look at the shadow in the corner of the room, added, "Luigi."

Mario held the door open for her as she left, and then moved back towards the fire.

It would normally be at this point where I'd have thanked him profusely for returning our princess unharmed, but you can only repeat your gratitude so many times before it becomes a joke. And of course, he knew that. We sat in silence, and I could feel the unease my fire lighter had spoken about. Mario stared into the fire, now, and Luigi hadn't moved or spoken a word.

I tried again. "Why is the princess worried that Bowser will attack so soon?"

Mario paused, and scratched at the mess of brown hair on his head. "It was a big long journey. Different from anything we faced before. The princess, she had to fight and defend herself, sometimes."

"The princess? Fighting?" The thought of it was preposterous. I was about to ask him why she'd needed to defend herself without him, when he looked directly at me.

"Is your assistant waiting up? I can give him what he wants for the speech now. I cannot sleep, but Luigi is tired and..."

"Of course. Toadlon will be in his study," I said. "Go when you're ready. I'll leave you both now to rest."

It wasn't until I'd left the warmth of the red room,that I'd realised what he'd done. He'd avoided my question about Bowser by distracting me with some nonsense about Peach fighting, and then had me dismissing myself from the room. I cursed to myself. I wouldn't be getting anything out of Mario tonight. Instead I'd have wait and quiz the princess in the morning.


	2. Fragment 2

**Fragment 2**

* * *

"Try to remember."

_Remember?_ At that moment I remembered nothing. Nothing, beyond the perpetual screaming, and a single ray of sunlight that flipped its angle up and down the walls of whatever this room was. She looked down at me, square jawed, bespectacled, her pale hair tied up into a bun on top of her head. I knew I should know that face. I knew there was something important associated with her. I couldn't place her. I couldn't answer her question, no matter how many times she asked it. I couldn't remember. I couldn't even move. All I knew was that screeching noise filling my head, that shifting beam of sunlight, and an overwhelming sense of _déjà vu_.

"You _do_ know me."

_Yes, yes, I damn well should, but I can't remember!_ I wanted to yell it at her face, but my voice was doing something else. Otherwise engaged. I couldn't stop it. Couldn't move. The howling in my head grew wilder.

The sunbeam changed its angle downwards, lighting up the floor.

"If you can't remember my name, try the first name that comes into your head. It might help."_  
_

_Name? I can't even remember... what is my..._ That constant screaming! I had to block it from my head. It stopped me from thinking, from remembering. I tried to scream over it, to discover I was screaming already. Was that really me? Had I been making that noise all along? If it was, then I could stop it. I could do that. Then it would be gone, and I could think straight. It would just be me, the sunbeam and her face left. I could do that...

The sunbeam flipped back up the wall to a near-horizontal angle, and went orange.

She stopped asking. The noise had stopped. I listened to the quiet. I didn't know which was more torturous, the ear-splitting silence or the constant screaming. I tried to do something to cover the ringing in my ears, but I had no more scream to give. Now I only had two things left for company. I didn't know which of them to trust. Her, or the sunbeam.

Right now, the sunbeam was winning. She seemed to be watching me too closely, although I had no idea what for. I was here, she was here, there was a sunbeam and I'd stopped screaming. That was all.

"Are you looking at the light?"_  
_

_No, I am juggling fruit like some demented court jester_. I tried to form the words, but nothing worked. And why was she now trying to make conversation?

"It's a lovely colour. There's a beautiful sunset outside."

Colour. Sunset. I seized those words like they were precious prizes. Sunset. Evening. Morning. Day, night, rotation, time, sunbeam, low, high, day, night, day, night... The thoughts whirled together in my empty mind until logic produced a single word. I knew what was important to me, now. It took all my concentration and strength to even whisper it.

"Continuity."

She raised her eyebrows. She reached out of my line of sight for a beaker of water, and placed the drinking straw between my lips. It was only then I realised I'd had no sensation of pain up until that moment. My throat burned. I drank.

"Did you know, that was the first, ever word you uttered?"

Did she mean now? Or from whenever I was supposed to have known her before? I mulled it over. She said '_was'_ my first ever word. Not '_is'_ my first ever word. Words unlocked things. Had I unlocked something significant from _before?_ If I were capable of feeling goosebumps, the d_éjà vu _I experienced right then would have sent waves of them up and down my back.

A fresh, yellow sunbeam flicked downwards across the room, in place of the orange. The sun had moved again. Evening had become noon. Yet she was still there, smiling at me, like no time had passed at all. But now, I'd_ seen_ the join. I might only have been able to move from the neck up, but I made every facial muscle count. My expression must have looked impressive, because it startled her. I gritted my teeth, and with every ounce of effort, I managed a quiet growl.

"I... lack... continuity."


	3. Fragment 3

**Fragment 3**

* * *

King Bowser's persistence in taking our princess for himself, has turned her homecoming speeches into something of a tradition. I could never count how many hundreds of Toads would squeeze themselves into the castle courtyard each time, but it was always quite the sight from my seat on the dais - a sea of speckled caps, the brightly coloured spots of those in their prime, intermingled with the darker browns of us elders.

Princess Peach looked exhausted as she stood at the lectern, but she'd insisted not to break with that tradition - to recount Mario's heroic achievements at rescuing her from the beast's clutches, and to reassure everyone that their kingdom was, once again, safe. Toads like tradition, and that is why, perhaps, I felt so uneasy, right then.

For one thing, Luigi did not attend. I hadn't seen him since they'd come back the night before. Minutes before we were due to walk out onto the dais, Mario announced that Luigi had a strong headache, and was in bed, sleeping it off. A simple explanation, perhaps, but it didn't help me feel any better. Secondly, this was the first time Mario had provided the material for the speech, and I'd been anxious to read it before Peach went ahead with delivering it. It didn't say much, but then Mario isn't one for dwelling on details. All things considered, my assistant had done a good job in turning Mario's blunt words into something that read like a regal announcement. Most of all, though, in an unprecedented move, Peach had asked for Mario to stand beside her as she addressed her subjects, something that not only unnerved me, but had kept the crowds twittering for longer than she'd perhaps anticipated.

Still, when she raised her eyes. The courtyard fell silent.

"Thank you, everyone, for a warm homecoming." Her voice faltered; she cleared her throat."This has been a terrifying experience, for everyone. For me, for Mario, and not least, you, the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. During our terrible adventure, we witnessed a great evil at work. You have seen and suffered its effects - the void that threatened to take everything. While I..."

I thought she was going to faint. I saw Mario tense, ready to catch her, but she leaned forward with her arms on the lectern, and took a deep breath.

"While I was away, every kingdom and province on Mushroom World faced total destruction. Since my return, I have been told how enormous holes appeared in the sky and swallowed parts of our kingdom away, along with thousands of our citizens. But the destruction of our world was just a small part of a master plan to turn the entire universe into chaos. I can reassure you now that the evil that caused the void has been destroyed, and the majority of its effects have been reversed. I have always had faith, that you, the people of the Mushroom Kingdom, have the strength to endure the greatest hardships, and come through winning. While I was away, you proved just that. I am proud of you all."

The princess looked up from her script in response to cheers and applause. Mario stood still, and stared at his feet.

"As our missing citizens continue to return, I am asking you all to stay vigilant. King Bowser had nothing to do with the void, but while we are still recovering from the aftermath, there is every chance he may take advantage of our weaknesses and strike." She cast a frightened glance at Mario, before continuing. "I hope you will understand when I say that today's celebration has been postponed. But I promise we will celebrate, when the last of our people come home."

The crowd murmured, but I could see nods of understanding ripple through them. Yet, Peach was shaking. For someone normally so defiant, it seemed almost as though she were giving in to the constant threat of Bowser's abductions. I could understand it if we didn't have Mario. But he was there, standing right next to her. It didn't add up. If we'd been weakened by the void, then Bowser's kingdom would have been, too. Why was she so certain an attack was imminent? No, something else had changed. Something that not even Mario could undo. Whatever it was, I suspected it had something to do with Bowser. I had to know what it was.

After she wrapped up the speech and smiled and waved to the crowds, we followed her back into the relative privacy of one of the drawing rooms. Peach sat down, while her attendants fussed around her, but Mario headed for the door.

"I want to check up on Luigi," he said, "if that is okay with you."

With a nod from Peach, he left the room. I felt compelled to follow, but with my princess feeling so vulnerable, I didn't want to ask.

"You're free to go, too, Toadsworth," she said, "if you don't want to stay."

"Thank you, your Highness." I tried not to sound too delighted. I dawdled towards the door, giving Mario enough time to clear the study beyond it. The study itself was a small room compared with most of the others, and after crossing it, I stopped and listened, counting his footsteps up the stairs to the guests' quarters.

When I knew he'd be out of sight, I pulled the door open, and with my cane lifted so I'd make no sound, I slowly climbed the stairs after him. With my old legs not being as strong as they once were, I feared that my panting and puffing would have made more noise than if I'd leaned on the cane, but as I reached the top I spotted Mario at the other end of the corridor, still unaware that I was following him. He hesitated, his ear against Luigi's door. Then he stood back, and looked over his shoulder. I pressed myself into a shallow alcove, and peeped out as far as I dared.

Mario reached into his pocket, pulled out a key and unlocked the door. I adjusted my eyeglasses. Had I just seen that correctly? The keys to the guest rooms were always kept on the inside, for privacy. What was Mario doing with Luigi's key? What reason would he have to keep Luigi locked in his room?


	4. Fragment 4

**Fragment 4**

* * *

She knew that I'd rumbled her trickery. She didn't even try to deny it. Every change of the sunbeam's angle had signified the passing of days, adding up to weeks, maybe more. Yet she'd sat there, in the same place, in the same clothes, her hair pinned up in the same way, as if she'd never left me; as if this madness had only lasted a number of hours at the most.

Why had she tried to feign continuity? Where had that time gone? How had it been stolen from me? I'd had no sense of falling asleep, nor waking up, or even the sense of dreaming. I focused my efforts on trying to speak again. "I... want... to know..."

I didn't even have time to finish, because that damn sunbeam moved again. "Stop doing that!" I surprised myself with the sudden improved strength of my voice. She'd obviously stolen enough time from me to allow my throat to heal from all the screaming I'd been doing before.

She sighed. "I'm sorry, but you're very weak. You can only manage a few moments of consciousness at a time."

"You... control my consciousness?"

" Just until your memory improves, 'k?"

The way she said that... A flash of realisation stunned me. I strained to grasp at what it was. It wasn't that I _should_ have known her. I _did_ know her. Her face - those spectacles - I recognised her from somewhere.

I tried to move, to sit up, but I still couldn't feel anything below my neck. Did I even have a body? I took the assumption that I did; the water she'd been feeding me through a straw must have been going somewhere.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What else do you 'control'?"

"Try to remember," she said, returning to her old mantra. She wasn't making this easy.

I focused on the word_ 'control'._ Control. Yes, she controlled things. So she must be in a position of authority. Yet something about her suggested to me that at the same time, she wasn't. She was a minion, like me. _Minion? _The thought of it grated on me. I wasn't her minion, or anyone else's.

"I don't answer to anyone." The thought blurted out through my clenched teeth. "I'm better than all of them." Ugh, that _déjà vu_ again... I studied her face, hoping for a clue as to what my words meant. But she just smiled.

"That's good. Very good. It's coming back." The sunbeam changed its angle again.

Encouraged, I tried to gather my thoughts._ Better than all of them. Better than who?_ If I were to trust her approval of my ramblings, then there were others, like me. All of us, servants to her, yet she was a servant to someone greater. Someone who we all had placed our... "Allegiance... I pledge my allegiance to..."

"Stop." She placed her finger over my mouth. "Don't think about the oath. Instead, can you picture the place you were in, when you took it?"

_An oath_. She told me I'd taken an oath. I closed my eyes and mouthed the words. Then the image formed. A darkened room, like this one. Within it, a box with transparent walls._ My birthplace. My prison._ Panic took me. My head pulsed with disjointed memories of me throwing myself against those invisible walls. Along with the screaming. Especially the screaming.

"What can you remember?"

I remembered the frustration of not being able to remember; that there should have been more. It was as if I'd reeled back to the start of my life, and I couldn't go back any further. I had so much information in my head, but nothing to relate it to. Was this my earliest memory? I remembered her being there, too. Watching me. Like she watched me now. Waiting until I'd stopped screaming and fighting - the way she'd done now. This wasn't _déjà vu_.

I tried to call her bluff, and managed what I hoped was a snarl. "I remember you and your mind games. I don't know what you want from me, Miss-thinks-she's-a-shrink, but I'm not playing them any more."

"I'm not here because of what I want." She raised her eyebrows. This is about what _you_ want. Identity. Continuity. Memory."

I couldn't have put it better myself. Control over my own body would be a nice bonus, too. "And you can give those back to me? Then wave your magic wand, Missy. Or is this some new line of torment you're about to embark on?"

She adjusted her glasses. "Just try to remember."


	5. Fragment 5

**Fragment 5**

* * *

I waited until Mario had entered Luigi's room, before I ventured out of my hiding place. With my cane still raised, I tiptoed along the hallway. Noise doesn't travel well through these thick stone walls, and so it wasn't until I'd reached the door that I could hear them - moans of pain from Luigi, soothing words from Mario.

Feeling foolish, I stopped right there. What was I doing? What right did I have to doubt that Mario was telling the truth? It was clear last night that Luigi was out of sorts. He probably _was_ suffering a serious headache. Didn't they deserve their privacy after what they'd been through to bring back our princess?

I scolded myself for hesitating. I couldn't _not_ investigate. Mario may have been a guest in this castle, but locking his brother in his room for the duration of the princess's speech seemed more than a little odd. Since the princess had imposed a state of high alert in the kingdom, my job to protect her was paramount. And that included investigating suspicious behaviour, regardless of who's behaviour it was.

Squaring my shoulders, I gave the door a firm tap with my cane to announce my presence. I didn't want Mario to think I'd been following him covertly. "Master Mario! I came to see if Master Luigi needed any assistance."

I stood back as I heard hurried footsteps, unsure as to how Mario would react. He flung the door wide and stared down at me, his brow furrowed through worry. Before either of us could speak, I heard another agonising groan from within. Mario's eyes flitted back and forth, and then he moved aside to let me into the darkened room.

Luigi lay bundled in the bed covers, curled up on his side. I had to raise myself onto my toes to see him properly; with this guest room furnished for the comfort of humans twice our size, everything was bigger and higher than I'm used to. Even then, all I could see was his hands, clutching at his matted hair. It was only when my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room that I saw the dark stains smeared over the pillow.

"Is that blood?"

Standing at the other side of the bed, Mario nodded.

"Goodness! Where is it coming from?"

"He doesn't let me close enough to look."

Another pitiful howl from Luigi had me almost jumping out of my skin. He shrank into a tighter ball, his hands tightened to fists as if attempting to rip his own hair out of his head. This was more than just a headache. Whether Mario liked it or not, I decided right then that Luigi needed a doctor. I went straight to the bell-pull on the wall beside the door and gave it a sharp tug. Hopefully someone would be in the servants' quarters to hear it ringing.

"Master Luigi," I said, returning to the bedside, "If you won't let your brother see what's wrong, how can he help you?"

Mario shook his head. "Toadsworth, he doesn't recognise me."

"Well, perhaps he won't need to, now there are two of us. Uncover the window."

"What? No! The light makes him worse."

I tried not to show my irritation. Sometimes Mario could choose the most awkward times to throw one of his stubborn moments. To be fair, though, the worry must have been clouding his thinking. So, I spelled it out to him. "Master Mario. If you hold his hands away from his head, I might be able to take a closer look at it for you. But I can't do that in this darkness."

Mario hesitated. Then, to my relief, he stepped over to the window and pulled the drapes back. At the sudden brightness, Luigi moaned and withdrew further beneath the covers, revealing more of the pillow. Most of the stains looked like old, dried blood, but there were fresh red spots, too.

I positioned myself on the side of the bed Luigi was facing, while Mario climbed up and sat behind him. With a gentle hand, he pulled the cover back to reveal Luigi's head and bare shoulders. Luigi cried out, letting go of his head and groping for the cover. As quick as lightning, Mario caught him by the wrists and pulled them backwards.

I'm afraid that this time it was my turn to find myself inert with shock. Never before had I seen anyone, human or Toad, in such a state of physical distress. Luigi's fingers, still clawed, were covered with blood, which I could now see came from an area on the top of his head. The hair that hadn't been soaked with blood, dripped with sweat. Yet, despite his fever he yelled and fought so hard against Mario's hold that he almost pulled his brother on top of him.

It took Mario shouting my name several times to gain my attention, and at last I reached forward and parted Luigi's hair for a good look at his scalp. I could see where his fingernails had gouged into the skin, but these scratches didn't account for the blood loss. I continued to probe, taking the greatest of care, since even the slightest touch sent the poor man into frenzied struggles.

Although Mario did well to keep Luigi's hands out of the way, there was little he could do about the wriggling around, which made my task even harder. It was more by luck than anything else that I found the site of the trouble; a small area of swollen skin. From the middle of it protruded what I first thought to be a tiny bloodsucking worm of some kind, since it was from here Luigi was bleeding the most. But when I prodded the creature's body, I found that not only was it quite limp and dead, but it was also fibrous in nature, more like a plant. On closer inspection, it's tip divided into two, in the same way young shoots sprout their first pair of leaves.

I wondered whether I should pull it out and be done with it, but - if it were a plant, wouldn't it have roots? How far did they extend?

"Hurry, Toadsworth!"

I looked up at Mario, still fighting to hold Luigi still. "This may sound utterly ridiculous," I said, "but there appears to be a small seedling embedded on the top of his head. I'm certain that the thing is dead, but it looks like it has allowed an infection to take hold. Has he taken any 1-UP?"

"Yes. We both did..." His eyes widened as realisation overtook him. The 1-UP mushroom is well known for its medicinal properties, but for the Marios, who are from a different dimension, its effects are so great it has been known to bring them back from near death. Compared to last night, Mario looked much healthier. Luigi was worsening by the hour. Now, I had Mario cornered.

"Master Mario, I don't know what is wrong with the princess, or why you and she are hiding secrets from me. But if this is one of them, your silence could well cost your brother his life. I think it is time for you to talk."


	6. Fragment 6

**Fragment 6**

* * *

This 'trying to remember' routine was becoming a bore. Not only that, the lack of memory meant there was nowhere for my mind to wander to find relief from this torture. She may have been acting as if I were her patient, but it felt more like I was her prisoner. So, she probably _did_ have the power to restore my memory and identity. She'd already admitted having control over my very consciousness. Even if I managed to dredge up my past on my own, what was in it for her? I didn't want to contemplate what other nightmares she would concoct for me if I didn't comply.

I mulled over that earliest memory again. I'd been a prisoner then, too, trapped inside a box with invisible walls. Had I been born into captivity? That couldn't be right. In that memory I'd been a fully grown adult. Of course, my consciousness could have been manufactured and planted into the body of some other, unfortunate soul. I had no doubt she could do that as well. But - in that memory, I hadn't just felt shut in. I'd felt shut out - as if I was missing a whole life of memories I wasn't even sure existed. I opened my mouth to air my thoughts, but then changed my mind.

"Before I do any more mental archaeology, I want some more facts from you."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Why can't I feel anything below my neck?"

"Because I don't trust you."

Well, that was direct. At least I knew she had control over my body, too. And, she was afraid of me.

"Why is that? Am I a bad guy?"

"The answer to that would be purely subjective."

"Very funny."

She gave a sigh, and changed her expression to something more serious. "You lost control of your sanity. I have to protect myself."

I could buy that. I'd done a lot of screaming. I'd probably been excessively violent at some point in the proceedings, too - no doubt another memory that was yet to raise its ugly face. "Am I insane now?"

She hesitated. "N... no."

"Is that a subjective answer?"

I didn't expect her to answer that one. She didn't.

"Look, Miss Whatever-your-name-is, why can't we just get over this whole deal the easy way? You tell me who I am, fill me in on my life story, do whatever you need to do to get me moving again. I'll be out of your hair and on my way. Why not?"

She shook her head. "Because _you_ don't trust _me_. Why would I expect you believe anything I tell you? If you're to accept any of your past, you must remember it for yourself."

She was right on the subject of trust. I didn't trust her because she had complete control over my body and mind. And she exerted that control because she didn't trust me. We were going around in circles.

I closed my eyes. "All right. As a sign of goodwill I'll let you have it your way. My first memory? You kept me in an invisible box. I can't remember for how long. I was probably screaming too much to notice."

"But you learned to stop screaming, eventually. Just like now."

"We talked."

"Yes, we did." Her voice softened. "You wanted to know who I was."

Bingo. It was as if she'd handed me a key to another secret compartment in my mind. I felt like I was actually reliving the moment I asked for her name. I could even picture her answering it. Just like that.

"Ah... Nastasia," I said. "Of course..." I was surprised at how much more powerful I felt just by knowing her name.

She smiled. "Very good. You see? It wasn't that difficult. Once you find that background memory, and the feelings that go with it, the details start to emerge. You were troubled about your own identity."

I opened my eyes only to find myself staring straight into hers. "I felt like I'd lost everything." I was aware that my voice had drifted into a monotonous drone as the memory started to flow. Perhaps she'd done that to me, I don't know, but I couldn't be bothered to fight it. "You said I lost nothing. You said that I was a jewel of strength hidden in the psyche of a weak-willed individual." Yes, that's what she said, word for word. "You said that by deconstructing his mind you were able to reach me, and create a man far superior to his previous incarnation." I hadn't given it much thought, back then, about what she'd meant by previous incarnation. She'd pretty much acknowledged to my face that I'd lived a previous life. "Who... who was I before?"

"Don't think too hard about that aspect, yet. You're not ready to accept it."

"But this is important! You told me to remember!" I tried to move my non-responsive limbs and gave up, grunting with frustration.

"You were troubled at that moment, because I'd told you my name, when you didn't have one."

She seemed to be prompting me much more, jogging my memory. Whether it was a reward for my cooperation I don't know, but I appreciated it. I considered my lack of a name. Yes, she'd created me, but hadn't had the decency to name me.

I recalled looking down at the cap that lay on the floor beside me inside my transparent prison. I remember the contempt I felt for the pathetic individual who'd once owned it. I'd abandoned my lament for his memories right then. I hadn't needed them, once Nastasia had explained how I'd come into existence. I remember looking at the letter 'L' emblazoned on the front of that cap. I didn't know what it stood for, nor did I care. As a final insult to him, I was going to take that last relic of his identity for myself. It didn't mean anything, any more. Now it was just L, and I could do what I liked with it. I punched the cap inside out, so that the symbol showed back to front, and then I'd placed the hat back on my head.

"So, I gave myself a name," I replied. "I called myself - Mr. L."


	7. Fragment 7

**Fragment 7**

* * *

It wasn't long after my gruesome discovery of the plant embedded in Luigi's head, that he passed into a state of unconsciousness. For him, it was a small release from the suffering, perhaps, but it was a source of great worry for the rest of us.

The servant who eventually answered my call sought Dr. Toadley immediately; and I had Luigi moved from his room in the castle to the good doctor's clinic just beyond the moat, in the heart of Toad Town.

News of Luigi's illness spread quickly. It's difficult for any human to pass through a Toadish settlement unnoticed, due to their great size, and it is almost impossible if those humans happen to be Mario or Luigi. Already, a crowd of Toads had gathered outside the main doors of the hospital, waiting for news, while Mario and I waited inside for the initial results of the doctor's tests.

Mario paced the waiting room. He looked apprehensive about the idea of leaving Luigi in Dr. Toadley's care. There was no cause to worry of course - after all, Dr. Toadley was an expert in his field - but I understood how difficult it was for Mario to trust him. Mario had gone to great lengths before, to explain to me how the doctors in his native world were men of science, trusted and respected for their knowledge of the chemical and biological workings of the human body.

I doubt that Dr. Toadley was any less learned a physician. But he practiced his medicinal craft through a form of magic, a word synonymous with illusion and deception in Mario's world. Not only that, Dr. Toadley relied on a crystal ball to show him diagnoses and potential cures - an object Mario associated with faked clairvoyance. Together with the doctor's unusual appearance and his even more peculiar turn of speech, I could only imagine the turmoil Mario must have felt at that moment.

"It is called a floro sprout."

The utterance nearly made me fall off my chair. It had been the first time Mario had spoken since we'd left the castle. "You mean, you know what this is? Why have you only just decided to tell me now? Why didn't you tell the doctor before he..."

The dull look in his eyes silenced me. It hadn't occurred to me that perhaps, he just hadn't been able to bring himself to. It had only just begun to dawn on me that perhaps the trials he'd encountered on this adventure had been too harrowing to retell so soon - that his silence concerning the whole adventure, and Peach's paranoia over another invasion from Bowser were perhaps the symptoms of nothing more sinister than traumatic shock. Perhaps it was I who was being too impatient.

"I'm sorry, Master Mario. Carry on."

He sat down on one of the waiting room chairs and sighed. "During our travels, Princess Peach and I saw hundreds of slaves mining jewels in underground tunnels. Their masters kept them under control with these sprouts, implanted into their heads."

"How did Master Luigi come to have one? Was he enslaved, too?"

Mario shook his head. "No. Luigi and I - we were separated from each other most of the time. I don't know how he... I..." He clenched his fists and lowered his eyes.

"Did Bowser do this?" I felt a sick feeling in my stomach. If Bowser had learned to subdue his prisoners and bend them to his will with the aid of these so called 'floro sprouts', I could understand Peach's terror. If he ever managed to control Mario and Luigi, that would be the end of us all.

Mario looked at me. "This, it was nothing to do with Bowser."

What did he mean, nothing to do with Bowser? Was he just referring to the floro sprout, or was it more than that? My chance to question Mario further was curtailed when the doors to the examination room flew back.

Clad in his customary lilac robes and face mask, his head cap covered with a purple turban studded with glittering gold stars, Dr. Toadley stood in the open doorway with his eyes closed and his arms flung wide in a dramatic pose.

Like any other Toad, I felt humbled in the doctor's presence, but Mario could only shake his head and rub at his temples with frustration. I knew how Dr. Toadley's manner could irritate him.

"A grave illness!" Dr. Toadley intoned. Then he opened his eyes and looked directly at me, preempting my first question. "Is there a cure? Yes! Fortunately for Luigi, the lowly 1-UP mushroom will combat the raging infection and bring about full recovery." His gaze moved from me to Mario. "Can I administer it now? No. For the cause of the infection lies in the rotting remains of a plant, the roots of which have burrowed deep inside his brain. Can it be removed? Indeed it can. My surgeons are preparing themselves to operate as I speak!"

"What?" Mario jumped to his feet. "You are going to operate on his brain? Do you have any experience with operating on humans?"

I found it difficult to contain my anger at such a display of contempt. "Master Mario," I told him, "Dr. Toadley is the princess's personal physician. He comes from a long line of medical practitioners who have attended to many of Princess' Peach's predecessors. Dr. Toadley's knowledge of human biology is the culmination of extensive research throughout the ages, including contributions from humans who were doctors themselves. Like it or not, this is Luigi's only chance."

"Then at least let me see my brother while he's still alive." At a nod from the doctor, Mario hurried into the examination room.

Dr. Toadley watched him go, and then pulled the door closed. "Is he in denial? He most certainly is. Is this plant native to Mushroom World? It is not. For this very reason it must be removed first, since it causes Luigi's body to resist the beneficial effects of the 1-UP."

I nearly dropped my cane at this revelation. _Not native to this world?_ Did that mean floro sprouts had been imported from some other planet, or - had Mario and Luigi's quest led them to a different world altogether?

I lowered my voice, to make sure Mario couldn't hear. "Doctor," I said, "Both Mario and Princess Peach have been behaving quite out of character since their return, last night. Neither will speak directly about their adventures. If you would, I'd like you to analyse this plant and find out as much as you can. And if Luigi wakes and says anything at all - I want to know, immediately."


	8. Fragment 8

**Fragment 8**

* * *

I woke to find the sunbeam at such a sharp, downwards angle, it almost grazed the floor. It must have been just past midday. I backtracked. _I woke?_ I couldn't remember ever feeling the sensation of waking. I took a moment to savour the blissful, bleary feeling, and with it, the notion that time had actually passed while I'd been in a state of restful sleep. It felt like my consciousness had been gently given back to me rather than switched on. I moved my eyes to see where she was. She was still there, but this time she wore a different blouse, and her hair looked freshly tied.

"You're not bothering to try and fake continuity any more."

She smiled. "It would be an insult to your intelligence if I did."

"I see. So, this is some kind of sick excuse of a reward for remembering my own name? Do I have to thank you, now?"

"Focus on your goals, Mr. L. Continuity. Identity. Memory."

"Why should I, when I know you have the power to give me back all three?"

I'd never seen her take her glasses off before. Her eyes looked tired and sunken. "I wish I could," she said, "But you never had them in the first place. All I could give you was purpose."

_Purpose_. Had she handed me another key? I pondered the word, but no eureka moment emerged this time. "I don't know," I said. I would have shrugged, if I could.

"Remember your oath."

My oath. I rolled my eyes. "I pledge my allegiance to Count Bleck, to eliminate those who stand in his way..."

"_Why_ did you take that oath?"

Then the metaphorical key turned. I caught my breath at the sudden, mental visualisation of my master. He was emptiness itself - his face a dark void, slashed in two by a jagged red mouth that leered like a halloween pumpkin. A monocle hovered where one eye should have been, while a menacing orange ball of light glowed in place of the other. Disembodied gloves marked the hands of his non-existent form, while a white top hat floated above. But it was that magnificent cape that defined my master for me. A luminescent white at first glance, it pulsed with undulating waves of ultraviolet shades, darkening to almost invisible at its ragged hem. When those gloves swooped outwards and spread the cape wide, its lining formed a window to the stars and galaxies of another universe. I remembered the awe I felt when I'd seen him for the first time.

He'd congratulated Nastasia on her creation, and then he tapped his jewelled staff on the box that held me. I couldn't help but get to my feet and stand to attention at the sight of him. He told me that I was '_the one'. _I hadn't understood what he meant, but from that moment on, I'd felt special. Superior. Superior even to Nastasia, my creator. But I did understand why she was incapable of granting me those three things. Only _he_ had the power to do that.

"He promised me... he promised he would create a world where I could have everything I want."

She looked wistful. "He promised that to us all."

"What did _you_ want?"

"His love." Her hand flew to her mouth as soon as she said it, and she made a strange little sobbing sound in her throat. I wasn't surprised to see that sunbeam flip again.

I let her little trick slide; after all, she'd fallen for mine. Instead, I dwelt on the moment when I stared into Count Bleck's open cape. I hadn't understood what I was seeing, but I'd felt his emptiness. I got the feeling that, like me, he'd been derived from something - or someone else.

"I trusted him," I said.

She seemed to be on the brink of replying, but stopped herself. I guessed that she'd trusted him, too. I didn't comment - it was an emotional weakness I might be able to exploit later if things didn't start going my way soon.

"So I pledged my allegiance." It came back to me, clear as day. With a wave of Bleck's glove, my prison had melted into thin air. He circled me and prodded me with his staff. Then he'd told me to disguise my face, before disappearing himself, leaving me alone with Nastasia.

"And do you remember what happened next?"

It took a while for the memory to come. I repeated her key word over in my mind._ Purpose... purpose..._ "You led me through the halls of the dark castle..."

"Castle Bleck," she said.

"Castle Bleck..." I repeated, "...to an office. Then, you showed me pictures of the three people you wanted me to assassinate."


	9. Fragment 9

**Fragment 9**

* * *

It was late. I sat at my desk with my head in my hands. It had been four days, and I had come no closer to understanding what had happened during Mario's latest adventure. I was beginning to think that I never would. The princess had not emerged from her room since the morning of the speech, and would speak to no-one. Luigi had been out of bounds to all visitors at Dr. Toadley's orders. I'd had to threaten Mario with a royal warrant for his detention if he continued harassing the hospital staff into letting him see his brother. If he'd have spent less energy on his fits of fury and diverted it instead into helping me persuade the princess to see some sense, we'd all have been in a better state of mind.

I stared at the results of Dr. Toadley's analysis of the floro sprout. He'd shown me the remains of the plant just hours after he'd finished the operation, but had only provided the completed report today. For something with a stem so frail, the extent of the network of roots that had developed was frightening. It had, so the report explained, penetrated every area of Luigi's brain. If these things had been used to subdue and control slaves as Mario had observed, they had the potential of being used as a powerful weapon.

According to Dr. Toadley's findings, the floro sprout had originated in a different dimension. I hadn't grasped the intricate details, but after he'd taken the time to go through the report with me, I understood that since it obeyed different physical and magical laws than those which exist here, it couldn't flourish, but equally, it had interfered with the healing effects of the 1-UP mushroom on its host.

I looked at the other bits of paper spread out over my desk, the transcript of the princess's speech, and my own scrawled notes, gleaned from what little Mario and Princess Peach had said.

So far, all I could piece together was that their adventure had taken them to another dimension. Princess Peach (and probably Mario and Luigi too) had seen enough evidence to know that whatever evil caused the great void had been destroyed. King Bowser had nothing to do with the void. The princess had needed to fight and defend herself at times. Luigi and Mario had been separated from one another. The floro sprout planted in Luigi's brain was one of many that were used to control slaves, but he hadn't been enslaved.

A gentle knock disturbed my thoughts. At my call, my assistant, Toadlon, poked his head around the door. "You're still up!" he said in an excited whisper. "I have a message from Dr. Toadley! If you want to get in and see Luigi before Mario does, now's your chance."

I jumped up from my chair. "Come in, my dear fellow! Did he say how Luigi..." He had a book under his arm. The book he'd been translating for me over the last three days. "Toadlon! You've finished it?"

He beamed and proudly held the tome out to me. "Toadish on the left, English on the right, just like you wanted" he said. "I had the cover specially made."

I took the book and held it close to my desk light. The gold embossed lettering on its spine shone. I opened it up and flipped through the pages and skimmed through some of the ancient Toadish script inside. Like most Toads, I'd learned to decipher it as a youngster, but had become a little rusty at it with age. "You did a good job with this, young Toadlon." I looked up to see him flushing with pride. "And excellent timing, too. Luigi will love it!"

* * *

"Is beautiful, Toadsworth." Propped up on a mound of pillows Luigi ran a trembling hand over the book. He fumbled with the cover, but didn't have the strength or coordination to open it, so I laid it open on his lap for him to look at. He pawed at the open page with his fingers, but his eyes drifted.

Dr. Toadley shook his head. "Can he read it? No, he cannot, for his sight is still too blurred. It will take time for his nervous system to recover, even at this accelerated rate."

I sat next to the bed. "Master Luigi. Would you like me to tell you about it, instead?"

He nodded - an action that caused some discomfort, I could tell, because he winced and tried to lift his hand to his bandaged head. His arm flailed over the side of the bed, and Dr. Toadley had to guide it back down at his side.

I waited until Luigi had settled again. "You know those ancient scrolls you've been studying in the library? I had Toadlon translate them and bind them into a book. Since the majority of the texts are about the spirits from the outer realm, it seemed to make a good title."

Despite how poorly he looked, his face lit up, and it made me feel happy to see it. "Thank you," he whispered. But as quickly as his smile had appeared, it faded, and his eyelids drooped. Just a few minutes had exhausted him, and I knew it would be folly to try and extract any information from him about his adventures tonight.

"Look at it as an incentive to be well soon," I told him, patting his hand. "I'm glad to see you're over the worst!" I glanced at the doctor, who tilted his head towards the door. As we left Luigi's hospital room, so a nurse entered to attend to him.

Once I was sure we were out of earshot, I turned to the doctor. "Has he mentioned anything useful at all?"

Dr. Toadley looked pensive. "Only one word. Is it relevant? I don't know. For he was having a spell of confusion at the time, and his fever was high."

"What was it?"

"Am I sure? No, I am not. His speech was slurred, but it sounded like - _'Dimento'_ "_  
_


	10. Fragment 10

**Fragment 10**

* * *

The memory ran through my head like a movie. I remember standing at Nastasia's desk, studying the pictures of my three targets. The man in the red hat didn't look like he'd pose much of a problem. He was overweight, a little short limbed and not exactly youthful. He might be able to pack a heavy punch, but he'd be slow on his feet and easy to outwit. The girl - well, if she wore an enormous pink dress like the one in the picture, she'd spend all her time tripping over it. Not a problem. It was that... _thing_, which bothered me. What was it? Some kind of spiky-shelled turtle with the head of a dragon, horns of a bull, and the limbs and tail of a dinosaur.

_Turtle. Dragon. Bull. Dinosaur. _I snapped out of my reminiscing.

"Nastasia? Why do I know things that I... shouldn't know?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Abstract knowledge. I can compare things with - with things I've never encountered before."

She drew her breath. "Think of your creation this way, 'k? I took a man and removed his dominant traits. His fear. His self doubt. His timidity. His clumsiness. Doing this enhanced the strengths these traits had repressed - now _your_ strengths - courage, determination, loyalty, confidence. Then I tapped into talents that had never been used, in particular, a flair for mechanical engineering. I removed his memory and his identity, but you were still left with a library of, as you put it, abstract knowledge, and an intelligent, inquisitive mind."

I had the feeling this little speech had been rehearsed, like she'd been anticipating the question for a while. At least this more technical analogy make sense to me, and not only that, it all but blinded me with another, important key.

A sudden flash of blueprints and figures shot through my mind as a major section of my memory opened up. An image formed, of a monstrous steel hull, spherical in shape, with a single jet at the bottom for flight. Two dome-like attachments concealed laser guns which could swivel independently like the eyes of a chameleon. I could remember building the missile launcher that protruded from its front like a nose, and the boomerang shaped blade that fitted underneath it, which, at the flick of a button, I could send slicing through the air in an arc, until it returned and re-attached itself to its mounting while the machine was still in full flight.

All this, I'd engineered myself, and could control from inside the cockpit on top, as well as remotely, from the ground. I knew I didn't have to fear the spiky shelled beast, because I was a mechanical engineer, and capable of building the ultimate fighting machine like this to kill it.

But my pride at the thought of my creation, the Brobot, standing majestically in the hangar at Castle Bleck, felt tainted, somehow. I also had the vague memory of the thing lying in smouldering ruins. Though I couldn't yet remember fighting these three people, I had the feeling it hadn't ended well for me.

"I built a machine to eliminate my targets," I said. "Did I fail?"

She lowered her eyes. "You were still in training. The Count didn't expect you to succeed. Having you create that Brobot and going into your first battle was just a test. Your targets may have beaten you, but you passed the training with flying colours."

"But I failed! I failed the Count!" I flung my head from side to side, the only movement I could manage. How could I fail the Count? I felt like a disgrace. "Please! Let me try again. I'll prove to him I'm worthy!"

Nastasia raised her hand and passed it in a downwards motion over my face, and the next I knew was the feeling of waking from a deep sleep. But instead of feeling refreshed, this time I felt drowsy; I couldn't shake the sleep away. The sunbeam, of course, had moved, but it didn't matter. All I could focus on were her glasses.

"Mr. L. Can you hear me?" Her voice was calm, monotonous.

"Yes, Nastasia."

"You will no longer fret over failure. You will not think about the person you were created from. You will not think about anything except the questions I ask. You are under hypnosis, now, and when we are finished, you will remember this conversation clearly."

"Yes, Nastasia." I could barely mumble an answer, I was so preoccupied with those glasses.

"When I showed you your targets, did you remember their names?"

"No. _You_ told me their names."

She nodded, making my eyes follow every movement of her head. "What did I tell you?"

I repeated the words exactly as she'd said them in the office. "The man is called Mario. The girl is called Princess Peach. The monster is known as Bowser."

"After they destroyed your Brobot, what did you do?"

"I went back to the repair bay to rebuild it and modify it."

"Do you remember being called away during that time?"

"You called me to a meeting with the Count, in the dark castle... I mean, Castle Bleck, to meet my peers."

"Do you remember them?"

I tried to picture the people in the dark hall. "There were three. There was a man - a soldier, or warrior. With a beard. And a girl, with her hair in pigtails. And a man with a painted face - half black, half white, with brightly coloured clothes. Like a jester."

"Do you feel that any one of them had significant importance to you?"

It was a new type of question, but my mind felt so sluggish I couldn't figure out why. I don't know why I picked him, or why he stood out for me. I knew it wasn't just his 'look'. "The jester," I said. "Something he did..."

Nastasia smiled. "Good. We're back on track. Your memory has been jogged enough that we can continue. When I lift the spell, you're going to tell me exactly what happened in your second battle against Mario and his friends, and everything that happened to you after that."


	11. Fragment 11

**Fragment 11**

* * *

I knew my princess well enough to know that she wouldn't ignore my note. I'd had Toadlon push it under her door the night I came back from visiting Luigi. If what I'd written had rung true, it would hit a nerve. If not, she'd be curious enough to want to know what I was talking about. Add on a couple of days to account for her current mood, and I suspected she'd knock on my study door this evening.

Rather than calling for her to come in, I opened the door to her myself. She wore no finery, just a simple floor length dress covered by a cloak, with her hair arranged in a long braid over her shoulder. I noticed she'd not made up her face to its usual bright colours, but she didn't look dull by any means.

Expressionless, she held up the notepaper, with my three-word question scrawled across it. "It's Dimentio, not Dimento," she said in a quiet voice, "and it's not a 'what', it's a 'who'."

I opened the door wider and invited her in.

I'd already arranged a chair for her to sit in, and I'd kept my kettle hot. I liked a little herbal tea in the evenings, and knew that she did, too. I offered her the chair and busied myself with making up the hot drinks. "So, Dimentio is a person? Do you want to tell me more about him? Assuming it's a he, I take it?"

That raised a little smile. "Yes, he was."

That was interesting. It probably meant he was dead, too.

Peach waited until I handed her a drink; she took it and cradled it in her hands for warmth. "How is Luigi?"

"Improving with every 1-UP," I told her. "I visited the hospital this morning. He's up and walking, with sticks."

"Oh, poor thing. Why must it take so long?"

I repeated Dr. Toadley's explanation about how the floro sprout had reduced the effectiveness of the 1-UP, slowing Luigi's recovery from the operation. Her face fell, and I took the opportunity to make my point clear.

"Your Highness, Luigi nearly lost his life because we had no information on your latest adventure. I _know_ this one was different from the rest. I don't understand all this secrecy..."

"Where did you hear about Dimentio?"

"Apparently, Luigi call out 'Dimento' during a moment of delirium," I said. "Dr. Toadley wanted to know if it had any significance."

"Dimentio was evil. But he's dead. He tried to harness the evil that created the void, but we... Mario... destroyed him." She sipped at her tea. "_He_ was responsible for planting that floro sprout in Luigi's brain."

Another revelation. I leaned forward. "So, Dimentio tried to control Luigi?"

At this, my princess jerked her head up suddenly. A haunted expression crept over her face, as if she were reliving a terrifying dream. "Dimentio's dead," she repeated, her eyes staring. "Mario destroyed him."

I could see her hands beginning to shake, and I took the cup from her before she spilled her tea. "I'm sorry," I said, "I can't even imagine the horrors you must have seen." I put her drink on the table beside her and sat down. "Mario mentioned that you'd even had to fight and defend yourself. Is that true?"

"Sometimes," she said, clasping her hands together. "But Mario did most of the fighting."

"Did you fight Bowser?"

"No!"

The force of her response took me aback. But I'd steered the conversation towards the beast, and I was determined to pursue it. "Did King Bowser kidnap you?"

She cowered in her chair. It reminded me of the frightened little girl who I'd taken into hiding after the koopas had taken our king all those years ago. "No," she whispered. "It was a man, who called himself Count Bleck."

"Was Count Bleck responsible for creating the void?"

The Princess choked, and then erupted into a fit of uncontrollable, hysterical sobbing. I had no idea what had triggered it, or how to console her. I strengthened my resolve to get to the bottom of this mystery, whatever it took.

* * *

My duties delayed my visit to the hospital until late the next morning. As I approached the main entrance I wasn't surprised to see Mario emerging from it. He looked tired and dishevelled; a growth of dark stubble covered the lower half of his face. Ever since Dr. Toadley had deemed Luigi fit enough to receive visitors, Mario had spent almost every waking moment with his brother, and had taken to sleeping overnight in the chair next to Luigi's bed.

"Taking a break, Master Mario?"

Yawning, Mario nodded.

"How is he?"

"They are doing the physio with him. I'm-a gonna go home to change my clothes." He looked at me. "You were coming to see him? He will be too tired after the physio."

"If he is, I'll come back later. It'll give you a chance to rest."

The implication that I would sit with Luigi while Mario took a break made him look uncomfortable. He hadn't been happy about me being the first to see Luigi, and had even shown some resentment towards the book I'd brought. He was looking pretty hostile towards me at that moment.

"Please don't interrogate him, Toadsworth. He has been through enough."

I wasn't having any of that. "And so has Princess Peach. Did you know last night was the first time she'd come out of her room for six days? What is she so sensitive about that it will cause her to cry for hours?"

Mario lowered his eyes.

"She told me about Dimentio. She told me that her kidnapper was known as Count Bleck. But as soon as I asked who created the void, she broke down. Why_ is_ that, Master Mario?"

He stepped forward and looked down at me, his brow drawn into an angry frown. "Because you are making too much of this." He spoke in a menacing whisper. "Dimentio is dead. Count Bleck is gone. The void has been closed up. It is finished. You're making mountains out of molehills."

I could feel my temper rising. "Perhaps you'd better tell that to the princess," I said, "because the way she's conducting herself at the moment suggests there are affairs that haven't been as neatly tied up as you might want me to believe."


	12. Fragment 12

**Fragment 12**

* * *

The moment I felt my mind released from Nastasia's hypnotic hold, the compulsion to tell my story took over. I couldn't stop myself; the more I fought against it, the more powerful the images became until they blotted out everything else.

After Count Bleck had introduced me to my so-called fellow minions, I'd returned to the repair bay at his castle, to complete my upgraded Brobot. This new incarnation, the L-type, was perfection. I had added remote control grabbers and stompers that could swoop around independently of the main hull. For sadistic effect I'd made them look like giant hovering fists and feet, able to squeeze the enemy like flies in its huge metallic fingers, or flatten them like snails under its heavy metal soles. Mario and his friends would be crushed, once and for all.

I remember how anxious I felt. By that time I was aware that I'd been created for a purpose - and that Count Bleck had high expectations of me. I couldn't let him down a second time. When Nastasia called the next minion meeting I ran to the castle hall, ready to be briefed for my next mission. But the news wasn't good.

"You told us Count Bleck wanted us to stand by," I said.

She nodded, but said nothing.

"You didn't tell us why."

Still, nothing.

Helpless, I closed my eyes and gave in to the memory of the events unfolding in the meeting room. "I remember everyone complaining because they wanted some action," I said. "We didn't want to wait. I needed to prove myself to Count Bleck. So, after you dismissed us, we disobeyed orders. We split up and went looking for Mario."

"Very good, Mr. L," she said. "Tell me about the moment you met Mario, Peach and Bowser."

I waited for the vision to come to me. But what came, didn't make sense. "There was nothing! Just white everywhere. It was like the whole world had been erased from existence - yet I could still feel solid ground under my feet. Then I spotted a heart shaped object lying there, in the middle of this nowhere. I remembered from my briefing that this was something Mario needed, in order to defeat Count Bleck. I took it for myself, but Mario and his henchmen appeared behind me. It made sense for me to return to Castle Bleck with the heart and leave my fellow minions to finish Mario off, but it wasn't to be. They pressed me for a fight, and..."

"Fast forward through the fight. Who won?"

"They did. Again! The L-type - they destroyed it. I don't know what it was about those guys, but I just couldn't beat them... Surely a robot like that would have been enough to crush them. I'm a disgrace! A failure! I can never show my face to Count Bleck again!"

"Enough!" Nastasia raised a hand to silence me. "Do not judge yourself. You haven't yet remembered the whole story. After the fight, what happened?"

I swallowed. "Dimentio. Dimentio found me. He made fun of me. He made fun of the fact that Mario had demolished my Brobot - and before I knew it, he'd begun attacking me with his magical projectiles. I didn't see it coming - we were supposed to be on the same side! He told me to get lost. I thought he was joking. I told him he wasn't funny. I told him if I wanted to laugh, his face was inspiration enough. I remember he retorted with some personal remark about my nose, and then I lunged for him, only to collide with an invisible wall. I panicked, to discover myself trapped inside a transparent box, just like the one you kept me in when I'd first come into existence."

As I spoke, I could feel sweat building up on my face and running down to my ears. Nastasia produced a cloth and dabbed it away.

"It was the first time I felt afraid for my life. I had no idea what this insane jester was going to do to me. The very fact that he shushed me and said not to worry made it worse. He said he'd send those heroes my way, just so I'd have someone to play with, but I knew what he really meant. He was going to kill me, and then kill Mario. And in the next moment..." The vision of my prison filling with fire consumed me. I could feel the burning heat and the terror all over again. Nobody should be able to remember their own execution. I couldn't tell Nastasia any more, because I was screaming so hard.

Then, her face moved into my line of vision. "Stop! It's all right." She raised her hands, and I saw she had both of mine in hers.

I stared up at my limp and useless arms, unable even to feel her grip. I did my best to calm myself, holding my breath to suppress my screams.

"It's just a memory," she said, "but it was a very important one for you to remember."

"I... I should have died," I said.

Nastasia laid my arms down. "Can you remember anything after your 'death'?"

I was surprised to find that I could. The fire disappeared. The box disappeared. The halls of Castle Bleck replaced the white nothingness where I'd battled against Mario before. And there was Mario again, along with his friends. And Nastasia - unconscious - and Count Bleck - dying. The only thing that hadn't changed was Dimentio himself, standing there, right in front of me, as if he hadn't moved. Just like Nastasia had been doing throughout these bizarre remembering sessions, Dimentio had tried - and failed - to feign continuity. But there was more than that. Now _he_ was my master. I actually _called_ him master. I actually _asked_ him what my orders would be.

"I lost continuity," I said.

"But where were you?"

Again, I could do nothing except answer her. "In the castle, with Dimentio, Mario, Peach and Bowser. You were lying on the ground, out cold, and Count Bleck, he... he was in a bad way. Dimentio was in charge - he was ordering me to prepare for my grand entrance, but after that... it seemed like some dream, like I was an enormous monster and Mario and his friends were tiny insects..."

"That isn't so far from the truth," she said. "And then?"

I remembered a bed. A chair. Medical equipment. I remembered two odd little creatures with black beady eyes and huge round caps, which I couldn't be sure if they were items of clothing or a part of their heads themselves. One wore the cloak and veil of a mystic, the other sported a large white moustache and a waistcoat. "A... a hospital room, I think... There were these strange little guys..." My mind went blank, and this time I knew it was Nastasia's doing.

"You have done very well today," she said. "But you've reached a point in your recollections where events began to cause havoc with your sanity. After Dimentio triumphed over Count Bleck, he created a monster by combining your substantial powers with his own in an attempt to finish Mario off, once and for all. But Mario won a third time, destroying both you and Dimentio. We all thought you were dead, Mr. L. But you surpassed even my own expectations. You're a survivor, that's for sure. But your current state of existence will eventually kill you. And that is what I'm about to change."

"How will you do that?"

"By helping you remember more. But not now. Tomorrow." She turned away for a moment, bending down to pick something up. Then she showed me the small clock - I'd not been aware of its soft ticking in the background until now. "A gift," she said, "from me, to you. Think of it as a token of your continuity."

I followed it with my eyes as she placed it on a cabinet next to the cot on which I lay.

Then she stood up from the stool where she'd been sitting, and smoothed out her clothes. "It's late, and you're tired. I'll leave you to sleep, now, and we'll begin again in the morning. 'K? If you need anything, just shout, and somebody will be here to help."

I watched her leave. I'd not studied the room I was in until now - I wasn't surprised that it resembled a prison cell of some kind. But when she left the door remained open. I turned my head to look at my clock. I didn't care what time it told right then. I closed my eyes and listened to its comforting tick, relishing that delicious moment of falling into natural sleep.


	13. Fragment 13

**Fragment 13**

* * *

I dithered a while outside the hospital entrance, wondering whether or not to come back later. In the end, I decided to go in and wait until Luigi's physio session had ended. My decision was well rewarded. As I sat in the visitors' waiting room I heard voices from beyond the door to the patients' wing. One, quite clearly, was Luigi's. Curious, I approached the window and peeked through, to see a most encouraging sight. Steadying himself against the corridor wall, with his back towards me, Luigi made slow, but sure steps in the direction of his room. Two nurses accompanied him, one holding the crutches he'd obviously discarded, the other walking close to his side, in case he fell.

It was good news indeed to report back to Mario, and perhaps it would put him in a better mood when he returned. I took stock of our last conversation. Mario's nerves were ragged, and he was exhausted. But he needed to understand that my duty towards maintaining the princess's well-being mattered as much to the Mushroom Kingdom as Luigi's health did to him. And if that meant asking Mario to go to the castle and snap her out of this depressive state of hers, then I'd have to command him to do it.

I whiled away the time, piecing together what I knew of their adventure. This Dimentio chap, whoever he was, was dead. The void that had almost destroyed us all, had gone. Both Mario and the princess had been quite clear on those facts. Count Bleck, the princess's kidnapper, was no longer a threat, either. But it was the _creation_ of the void that seemed to hit a nerve with Princess Peach. And then there was this increased paranoia about King Bowser taking her away again. The more I thought about it, the more I began to wonder whether these two things might be linked in some way.

I idly watched the winged mailkoopa waddle in through the door and approach the reception desk, with a small bunch of letters under his arm. Although born and raised in the Koopa Kingdom, he'd come to live in the relative peace of the Mushroom Kingdom many years ago, and now worked for the Toad Town post office.

"Parakarry!"

He swivelled his scaly head around to look at me and gave two clacks of his beak, the koopa equivalent of a smile. "Toadsworth! How are the princess and Luigi?"

"Luigi's getting better, but I'm afraid the princess is becoming a recluse," I told him. "She insists that King Bowser had nothing to do with her latest kidnapping, or the terrible void, yet she is terrified that he'll come and take her away at any moment. It is unlike her, and I just don't know what I can do to reassure her."

Parakarry ruffled his feathery wings and folded them back over his bright, turquoise shell, apparently in thought. It was more difficult to read a koopa's face than a human's; they don't have such a wide range of facial expressions, so I had to study him carefully.

"I still have contacts in Bowser's kingdom," he said. "They're not close enough to His Nastiness to be able to predict another kidnapping, but they might be able to tell me something."

I felt doubtful, but it was worth a try. "Anything you can find out," I said, "I'd be grateful."

The parakoopa deposited his letters on the reception desk. As he waddled out, so Dr. Toadley emerged from the patients' wing.

"Ah, Toadsworth!" He flung his arms wide in his customary pose. "Was I hoping you would still be here? Yes, I was! One of the nurses spotted you and told me you were waiting. Is Luigi improving? Yes, he is, but alas! His spirits are low. I think it would be good for him to see you. Come this way!"

* * *

Compared with how I'd seen him yesterday, Luigi looked tired, but then, he had just finished a session of exercise. He sat in a chair next to his bed, his head still bandaged, and with a blanket over his knees. He tried to stand up to greet me, but his limbs shook with fatigue and he slumped back down again. I could see his frustration by the way he clenched his fist.

Feeling anxious, I glanced at the doctor.

Dr. Toadley tutted. "Was that to be expected, Luigi? Yes, it was! You have just walked the corridor. Don't expect to be jumping over buildings yet! The floro sprout affected your entire brain, and recovery will take time."

Luigi sighed. "Is my fault."

"Your fault?" I leaned on my cane. "What is your fault?"

He made a weak gesture with his hands. "Everything."

"But you brought the princess back. She is safe!"

"No."

_No?_ I stared at him. "You mean she's not safe?"

"I... I don't know..." Luigi frowned in concentration, as he often did when he had something important to say. While the Mushroom Kingdom had adopted English as its official language - the language of Princess Peach's ancestors of Earth - it wasn't the Mario brothers' mother tongue, and Luigi wasn't as fluent at speaking it as Mario. I gave him time to organise his words, but in the end he shrugged and repeated, "I don't know".

Whether this meant he wasn't able to articulate what he wanted to tell me, or he genuinely couldn't guarantee the princess's safety, I didn't know. Mindful of Mario's warning not to interrogate him, I tried instead to reassure him.

"How can she not be safe?" I said, as gently as I could. "Mario assured me that Count Bleck and Dimentio are gone. It's over."

The look he gave me then, made it quite clear to me that he believed the opposite. Did Luigi share the princess's paranoia about Bowser, too? I didn't want to pressure him, but I had to know.

"Do you think Mario is wrong?"

Luigi stared at me, and went pale. Then his eyes - they did something I'd never seen a human being's eyes do. More complex than our own, the dark spots in their centres would often grow or shrink in response to light, or mood. I was used to this strange phenomenon, of course, but I wasn't ready to witness those spots to disappear completely. Without them, the pale blue circles in Luigi's eyes blended to the white surround, giving them an almost silvery sheen.

Was this normal for a human? I looked to Dr. Toadley, but the veil that covered most of his face hid his expression. He took a step closer to Luigi and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Luigi! Are you feeling well?"

Drawing back into his chair, Luigi stared at the doctor like he'd never seen a Toad before. Then he glanced around the room, a look of alarm on his face.

"Luigi," the doctor repeated, "do you know where you are?"

We never found out whether he did, because at that moment Mario burst through the door.

Luigi gripped the arms of the chair and bared his teeth. "You!" he said, in a tone so murderous it didn't seem possible he was capable of it. "Why won't you ever die?" He pushed himself to his feet and took a few steps towards Mario, but his legs buckled beneath him.

Mario dived and caught him before he hit the floor, and clamped his arms around his brother's, restricting his weakened struggles. He glared up at Dr. Toadley from the floor as Luigi sank into a state of semi consciousness. "Are you sure you removed that floro sprout completely?"


	14. Fragment 14

**Fragment 14**

* * *

"How did you sleep?" Nastasia held the drinking straw steady while I took more water on board.

The night had been far from good. I'd lost count of the number of times I'd woken from the nightmare of being burned alive in Dimentio's transparent box, and the amount of time I'd spent laying awake, contemplating the highlights of my short existence. I'm sure she'd have relished hearing how torturous the night had been for me, and I wasn't going to give her the pleasure of knowing.

"Fine," I said.

"Liar." She put the drink to one side and sat down at her place beside me, her face stern. "I allowed you a full night's continuity, to enable your brain to process everything you've recalled so far, through your dreams and through waking thought. We have to be truthful to one another, Mr. L. I know last night won't have been pleasant for you, so don't pretend to me that it was."

"Congratulations for becoming the fifth person on my hit list," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Who is the fourth?"

"Dimentio."

"Dimentio is dead," she said. "I told you last night. I'm sorry, Mr. L, but Mario beat you to it."

I ground my teeth. Mario was becoming more than just an extermination job. I began to feel genuine hate for the guy. "Is he still alive? When will I get the chance to have at him again?"

"Don't distract yourself," she said. "We need to continue."

No, we didn't. I'd had enough. I wanted to be free of this paralysis. I wanted to build another Brobot, and annihilate Mario myself, only this time I'd ask my master for clearance. It was time to go over Nastasia's head. "I need to see Count Bleck," I said.

I could tell by the way her hands flew to her mouth that I'd hit a nerve. So, did Bleck know she was doing this to me? Allowing myself a smirk, I added; "So, where is he?"

She took off her glasses and wiped them. "Dimentio attacked him. You saw the state Bleck was in. He was... fatally wounded."

_Fatal. Bleck... dead?_ I didn't believe her. But then I saw a look in her eye that convinced me this was for real. I caught my breath. Bleck - the one and only person I had any respect for. The one person who'd showed any respect for me. The one person who could - and did - give me the freedom to fulfil my potential, the way I wanted to - who gave me my continuity, which enabled me to establish my own memory and identity from scratch. Mr. L, the Green Thunder, the man Count Bleck called_ the one_. Where did his death leave me now? Helpless at the hands of my sadistic creator, that's where. I shut my eyes and tightened my lips to contain my emotion, but it seemed Nastasia could read me too well.

"I know, I know..." I detected a wobble in her voice that seemed genuinely heartfelt. For a few moments she was silent. Then she drew a deep breath. "We need to continue. From the moment Dimentio got to you, your consciousness was no longer yours to control. You lost that continuity, and it led to the loss of your sanity. You've come back from the brink, Mr. L. You've remembered who you are. But if you're to take control of yourself once more, we have to tackle the memories that occurred after that point. That is the difficult part."

When I looked at her again, she'd put her glasses back on, and her expression had hardened. "Now, we're going to pick up where we left off last night, 'k? After Dimentio caught up with you, you said you remembered being transported to Castle Bleck, and having the sensation of being transformed into an enormous monster. From there you said your memory cut to being in a hospital room, with two strange little creatures looking at you. Continue from there."

The recollection wasn't difficult, this time, although it did feel like a dream. I could see those two surreal creatures in my mind, their large heads looking like multicoloured toadstools. They weren't aggressive. In fact, they asked me if I was feeling well, and whether I knew where I was. I remember feeling weak and light-headed for some reason, but I was too stunned by their appearance to answer them.

Then everything changed when Mario entered the room. I remember leaping up to attack him, but for some reason I had no strength; my legs wouldn't hold my weight. He caught me as I fell, and I hated him all the more for it. The indignity of being saved from injury by the man I'd been tasked to kill is something I'll never want to experience again.

"I felt so ill," I said. "I didn't realise it was me who was the patient in that room, until I stood up to fight Mario."

Nastasia nodded. "Carry on," she said.

"I couldn't even throw a punch. I fell over, and Mario held on to me until I stopped fighting. He picked me up from the floor. He didn't recognise me. He must have mistaken me for someone else, because he laid me on the hospital bed and spoke to me in a language I didn't understand."

She perked up at this. "Did he call you by any other name?"

"Luigi..." I gasped as I uttered the name. It was another key. Confused images of fighting Mario spun through my head, intermingled with memories of being bound and chained, of screaming and throwing myself against dungeon cell walls, while Mario watched from behind the barred door. The name reverberated through every thought, through Mario's voice, and through others I couldn't identify. "I remember now. He tortured me!" I said. "He imprisoned me. Just let me at him, Nastasia, I owe it to the Count to finish his bidding!"

"Shhh..." Nastasia raised a hand, and I felt a numbness soothe my mind. "You've been through enough to send any man insane. Go back to that moment when he picked you up from the floor. It wasn't that he didn't recognise you. He _did_ recognise you. And he was kind."

I tried to shift my limbs in vain. "He was mistaken. I am Mr. L, and Mario is a murderer!"

"Technically right on both points," said Nastasia, "but what Mario was looking at, was this." She bent down and retrieved something from under the cot, and set it down next to my clock. It was a small mirror on a stand, and she took great care to angle it so I could see my own face.

I stared at my reflection. I'd never given my face any consideration beyond making sure it was disguised at all times. Count Bleck had ordered me to keep it covered, and I had done, with an eye mask and a bandit's bandanna. My face was bare, now, save for a dark, manicured moustache which curled upwards a little at the tips. I wondered who had been taking care of it during my enforced absences of consciousness. I looked tired and pale, and there was something wrong with my eyes. The pupils were missing, and it made me look blind.

And then, everything clicked together. Each time I'd battled Mario, my face had been covered. That moment in the hospital room was the first time he'd seen it bare, and he _recognised_ it as the face of someone he knew.

"This is the face of the man you created me from." I rolled my head to look at Nastasia.

"Yes, it is."

I looked back at the mirror.

"I'll give you some time," she said, "but the mirror is yours. Think of it as a token of your identity."


	15. Fragment 15

**Fragment 15**

* * *

Their language is beautiful. I could listen to it all day. I don't hear them speak it very often, since they consider it rude to use it in front of us, but on this occasion, it was a necessity. Mario had lifted Luigi from the floor and placed him on the bed, and now spoke to his brother in soft tones. Luigi shifted restlessly, but his eyes still showed that ghostly silver sheen under his half-closed lids.

Dr. Toadley had brought his crystal ball to the bedside, and I watched, fascinated, as he studied the whorls of light within it. When he'd done with it, he moved it aside, and produced a syringe from his robes. Before Mario could even protest, he'd injected something into the back of Luigi's hand, sending the man to sleep. He turned to Mario. "What have I done?" As always, the doctor had anticipated the question before it could be asked. "I have given him a sedative, Mario."

Mario's face reddened. "I didn't authorise it," he said.

"Do you have a choice?" The doctor frowned over his veil. "No, you do not. I am sure you'll agree that this is the best course of action for now. There is no trace of the floro sprout left in his head, but I'm interested about why you linked the sprout to that aggressive behaviour."

I couldn't have phrased it better myself.

Mario sighed, and sat in Luigi's chair. "If there is no floro sprout left, then there is no link."

"But you thought that there was, Master Mario," I said, "and both the doctor and I want to know why."

"I was wrong." Mario folded his arms and stared ahead.

Such stubbornness! Mario may have been physically more powerful than any Toad in this kingdom, but he was a citizen who had to abide by our laws. I didn't like using the law against him, but my choices were running out. "Master Mario," I said, "I shouldn't have to remind you that if the princess is unable to rule for more than seven days, then I become regent. The princess has been out of the kingdom for fourteen days, and since her return, seven days ago, she has been in no fit state to rule. I am thereby exercising my authority as regent to issue a royal order for you to answer all questions posed to you regarding your adventure. You know the consequences if you refuse."

He knew the consequences, all right. Of course, jailing Mario would be madness, as it would compromise the kingdom's security even further, but I hoped the threat might be enough for him to be at least a little more cooperative.

He buried his face in his hands. "I was so stupid," he said, at last. "I didn't see it."

"Master Mario," I said, "Please, try and make more sense."

He looked up and glared at me. "I told you. Luigi and I were separated for most of the time. I do not know what happened to him. But... while I was looking for the way to close the void, Count Bleck sent his henchmen to stop me. One of them, he was a masked man who called himself Mr. L. I remember thinking how he looks like Luigi - but I didn't think it could be him. Why should I? He spoke English so well, and he - he was a different person. He was..." he gestured to his sleeping brother, "...well, you have seen it."

Mario looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, but I felt like a weight had been lifted. At last, we had progress! "Did he have the floro sprout then?" I asked him.

"No," said Mario. "And I did not suspect anything for a long time, because when I did find Luigi later on, he was okay. It was only when we faced Dimentio that the floro sprout grew out of his head, and then..." he stopped, and shuddered. "...Luigi's eyes changed, and he said he was Mr. L."

Now I understood why Mario had made the link between the floro sprout and Mr. L. But I still wanted him to clarify. "Did Dimentio actually use the floro sprout to control Luigi?"

Mario nodded, and I drew a breath of relief. _There_ was the confirmation. Dimentio controlling Luigi through the floro sprout had obviously led to something terrifying, because of the way the princess had reacted when I'd asked the same question of her.

"This is grave, very grave," said Dr. Toadley. "Until we find out why Mr. L emerged today, we must keep Luigi here."

"What? Why?" asked Mario.

"Don't you see?" The doctor turned to face him. "Luigi may be weak now, but he will soon be fully recovered. If we cannot be sure that we can prevent another episode in the future, who knows what damage he could do."

* * *

Three more days passed. Luigi grew stronger, and without, I'm glad to say, any more silver-eyed aggressive episodes. The princess was a different matter - I hadn't seen her since we'd discussed Dimentio, and my worry for her was deepening. I was just about to retire, when I'd heard a tapping at my window. With my rooms being on the second floor of the outer keep, I knew it could only be a creature blessed with the ability to fly. The only one who'd be knocking at my window at that time of night, would be Parakarry.

He fluttered backwards, giving me room to push the frame open, and I stood back while he squeezed his way in. I put my hand out to steady the lamp-stand as his wings almost knocked it over, and he bowed his head once he'd landed. "Sorry," he said.

"No matter!" I pulled the window shut and offered him a seat. "Any news?"

The mailkoopa wriggled backwards into an armchair as far as his shell would allow, and held onto the arms to prevent himself from toppling forward. "The void hit the Koopa Kingdom badly, sir," he said. "Same as here, it was, and there's still loads of koopas missing. And they're all worried about His Wrathfulness, or more like His Miserableness right now. He just mopes about in his castle, and nobody except his advisor, Kamek, and a couple of others have seen him."

This was interesting news, but not what I wanted to hear. "Any clue as to whether there's an attack imminent?"

Parakarry shrugged. "I doubt it, while the king's the way he is. Y'see, apparently, he was preparing to invade the Mushroom Kingdom just before all this business with the void happened. Mario and Luigi went to his castle accusing him of kidnapping Princess Peach and then - they _all_ disappeared, along with nearly half the army at the castle's military base! The castle was completely empty."

He leaned forward, tapping a claw to his temple. "Now, Kamek believed that the Mario Brothers were responsible for King Bowser's disappearance, and had begun to round up what was left of the army and march them to the Mushroom Kingdom to retaliate. But when the void hit, everyone had more important things to worry about. After it closed up, King Bowser, the Marios and Princess Peach reappeared in the castle, as well as all of the missing soldiers. Mario, Luigi and the princess left the castle _peacefully_. And what's more, King Bowser_ let them go."_

This didn't make sense. If Bowser let them go, why was the princess so paranoid that he'd attack? "Are you sure?"

"As sure as my sources can be. Hey, don't shoot the messenger, Toadsworth!"

The more I delved into this mystery, the more bizarre it became. "Thank you, Parakarry," I said. "If you hear any more, be sure to let me know, my friend."

"Any time!" he said, jumping from the chair and fluttering towards the window. "Until tomorrow!"


	16. Fragment 16

**Fragment 16**

* * *

So Nastasia left me lying there, staring at my own face in a mirror set beside the cot. The thought of it being a face that Mario knew, made me cringe. I recalled my earliest moments of existence, trapped inside that transparent prison; that feeling of having had my identity and an entire life of memories robbed from me. Of Nastasia reassuring me then, that I'd lost nothing. Telling me that I was a jewel of strength hidden in the psyche of a weak-willed individual. Of Count Bleck acknowledging his approval of me, her creation. I'd reclaimed my sanity by fostering contempt for the man she'd created me from. I was a new, improved, powerful and efficient version. He was obsolete, now. But Mario _knew_ him. Why choose to create me from someone Mario knew?

Perhaps Count Bleck had seen my face as a potential weapon, one to unleash on Mario as a last resort. I allowed myself a little smile at how Mario might have reacted, if I removed my mask during a battle. Judging by how carefully he laid me on that hospital bed, Mario must have cared about this guy Luigi. Using his face - _my_ face - as a weapon would have made Mario vulnerable in battle indeed.

I idly let that memory of the hospital room run. I remember Mario talking to me in that strange language of his, and me being too weak to fight or protest, and one of those mushroom-shaped creatures sticking a needle in my hand.

The drug must have sent me to sleep, because the next I remembered, it was night time, and the bed I lay on felt different. I felt for its edge and swung my legs over it, pleasantly surprised to find how much better I felt. The clothing I wore had changed, too - from loose day clothes to an even more loose nightshirt. I padded to the window and flung open the drapes. The glow from the sky's stars lit the room enough for me to make out its simple furnishings; a small wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a desk, a chair, a small table next to the single bed. I wasn't at the hospital any more? I remember wondering how I'd come to wake in this room, and whether it was another of Dimentio's tricks. I moved towards the door and put my ear against it. I heard no noise, so I opened it slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak. Beyond the door I could make out a living space, and the shapes of a sofa, a chair, a dining table, bookshelves. What looked like a kitchenette took one corner while a hallway lead from another.

I froze. I had the feeling I wasn't here alone. Torn between the instinct to run and the urge to investigate I waited in silence.

I heard breathing. Not the breathing of someone waiting in the dark, but the slow, deep breaths of someone sleeping. I crept past the bedroom I'd woken in, and moved down the hallway. Hovering outside the room it came from, I pushed its open door wider. In the darkness, I saw the outline of someone asleep in bed. Anxious to discover how I'd come to wake in this dwelling, I tip-toed to the window to open the drapes there. The starlight fell on his fat, puffy face. I couldn't believe my luck. _Mario._

I remember my heart pumping. Now was my chance to complete Bleck's task. I looked back at the door and the bathrobe that hung behind it. Staying silent, I moved across the room, unthreaded the cord from its belt-loops and wrapped either end around my hands. I remember grinning and thinking how ridiculously easy this would be. By the time he'd have woken and realised he was being strangled in his own bed, it'd be too late. I turned, ready to approach, only to find him standing right behind me.

"Luigi?" _That name again._ He gabbled something else in his language, but it was of no interest to me. I was committed, now. I had to follow it through. I leapt up, crossing my hands and looping the cord around his neck as I landed behind him. I pulled. He wriggled, he clutched at his throat; made all the noises I'd expect for someone who's life was being squeezed out of him.

I tightened the cord, and whispered in his ear. "You should have killed me while you had the chance, Mr. Jumpsallthetime."

"You..." Barely able to articulate the word, Mario stepped back; trod on my foot, then flung his considerable weight onto me, making us both topple to the floor. Winded and pinned down, I still kept the cord tight. But he'd managed to take in some air. He pummelled me with his elbows and heels, arching his back and throwing himself down on me, over and over. I was the one strangling him, but he was the one squeezing the air our of me.

I don't know how he did it, but his right elbow found a nerve on the inside of my upper arm, and my whole arm went limp. He tore himself free and flipped over, and before I knew what had happened, he'd dragged me across the floor and bound my hands to the bed frame. All I could do was struggle and kick at the floor. But he didn't finish me off. He just stood over me, and watched.

"Mr. L." Her voice sounded distant. "Mr. L! Are you okay?"

_Nastasia?_

"Mr. L, you've been screaming again. Please, relax."

I realised I'd had my eyes shut tight. I opened them to see her sitting in her usual place. "I - I had another memory." I could tell by her expression she was waiting for me to continue. "After the hospital. I woke in a house. Mario was sleeping there. I tried to kill him, but..."

"Who's house was it?" she said.

How was I supposed to know that?

"Think hard, Mr. L."

I'd woken in a bedroom. Mario had been sleeping in another room. "It could have been Mario's house," I mused. But if it was, what was I doing, sleeping there? He'd never have allowed... I swallowed. _Mario had mistaken me for a friend_. Luigi... did Luigi sleep there? But how... I looked up at her. "I can't remember arriving at that house, or going to bed there... I'd just come from the hospital..."

Nastasia shook her head. "You must have made a very quick recovery, then."

It took a minute for me to realise. She was prompting my thoughts again. At the hospital I was so sick I could barely walk. At the house I'd felt strong and ready for anything. It had been another break in continuity - like the time lost between Dimentio executing me, and then bringing me back at Castle Bleck to become that monster. Time had passed, and I'd had no idea what had happened in between.

Except that Mario must have let me sleep in his house - _thinking I was Luigi. _And I must have gone along with it. No. I'd never have gone along with it. Even with Luigi's face, how could I pretend I was him? Mario spoke to Luigi in a different language. I'd never have pulled _that_ off. And as hard as I tried, I had no _memory_ of it, anyway..._  
_

Unless... during that time... It was unthinkable. Luigi was gone, because I existed. But during these continuity breaks - what if...

"Did Luigi come back?"

She nodded.

If I could move, I would have grabbed her by the throat. "Then you have to help me! He's been stealing my life! My continuity! That's what drove me insane, isn't it? You have to get rid of him. Get him out of my head for good. Please!"

Nastasia gave me a level stare. "That's precisely what he's been pleading for me to do with you."


	17. Fragment 17

**Fragment 17**

* * *

As Luigi grew stronger each day, his rate of recovery accelerated, until at five-and-twenty days after his operation, he'd reached the point where Dr. Toadley would have released him from hospital. I say _would have_, because the doctor had come no closer to understanding Luigi's 'Mr. L' episode, or the physical change in his eyes that went with it.

All we were sure of, was that sedation had been an effective way of bringing him back to normal. Luigi had no memory of the incident, so Mario, the doctor and I all agreed it would be better not to tell him about it.

Luigi spent his days pacing the hospital gardens, reading the book I'd given him. He seemed fascinated by the ancients' beliefs in the Guiding Spirits, and their sacrifices and rituals to garner good fortune. On the days I'd go to visit him, I'd often find him sitting with the book open on his knee, deep in thought. He'd sometimes ask me questions about our ancient civilisations, and it'd make me feel ashamed at my lack of knowledge on the subject. He was being remarkably patient, but when he expressed a wish to go to the library to do more research, I knew Dr. Toadley couldn't keep him at the hospital for much longer.

Mario and I pressured the doctor to re-evaluate Luigi's condition, until at last he agreed that the 'L' episode may have been nothing more than a one-off reaction to the operation itself. Even so, before the two brothers left, he handed Mario a discreet box of tranquiliser doses with instructions on how to administer them, just in case.

* * *

Although I was pleased that Luigi had left the hospital, I missed my regular excuse to escape life at the castle. Princess Peach's depression had darkened every room, hall and corner. It was hard enough for me to act as regent while she locked herself away, without having to try and lift the spirits of everyone who worked here. Nobody smiled. The chirpy banter in the kitchens had faded to an occasional whisper. Everyone performed their duties with heavy hearts and dragging feet.

It had come to the point where I felt that if I stayed in that castle much longer I'd be driven to depression myself. So, I sent a message with Parakarry to Mario, asking him to meet me at the cafe in the main square, the next time he was in Toad Town.

Mario's appearance shocked me when he wandered into the place. He looked tired and bruised, as if he'd just come back from another adventure. Although he'd tried to hide it, I could see a deep red mark extending almost all the way around his neck, as if someone had attempted to strangle him. I decided not to mention it as he sat opposite me at the table.

"Good of you to come, Master Mario," I said, shaking him by the hand. "I've ordered your usual coffee. How is Master Luigi?"

"Eh, okay," was his reply. "He is in the library. He cannot stay away from the place since he has that book. Every day, it is the 'Guiding Spirits' this, the 'Guiding Spirits' that. He talks about your ancient peoples nonstop."

I couldn't help feeling a little pang of pride. "I'm glad to hear it."

Mario didn't look so impressed. "He is obsessed with the book, Toadsworth. I'm thinking he started to believe the Guiding Spirits are real. I tell him it is ancient nonsense..."

"At least it's keeping him out of trouble," I said.

Mario made a polite smile, and lifted his hand to the bruise on his neck. "How is Princess Peach?"

"Master Mario," I said, "I am at my wit's end. The princess has become a recluse. She sees nobody except her maid. Young Toadette comes up from the town every few days to play music for her, but even then, she is turned away. I write notes, she doesn't respond; not even to the news that Master Luigi is home. Master Mario, there must be something we can do!"

He shrugged. "What can I do? Beat down the door to her room and tell her to talk to me?"

The waitress arrived with our drinks, and I watched Mario shovel four spoons of sugar into his coffee.

"Look," I said. "This cannot go on forever. Why is the princess so paranoid? Is this really all about Bowser? Or is there something more?"

Mario stopped, mid-stir, his eyes boring into the table. He looked like he was going to explode, but I wasn't going to let that perturb me.

"Master Mario, I wish to get to the bottom of this, and I _will_ have my way." I gave him the sternest look I could manage. "I heard from a source in the Koopa Kingdom, that when you and Luigi came to Bowser's castle looking for the princess, he and half his army disappeared. Apparently, Kamek thought that you two had abducted Bowser, and was mobilising the remainder of the troops to retaliate on our kingdom, just before the void came."

He managed a wry smile at this. "If only," he said. "But no, it was Count Bleck. He took Bowser, his troops, and Luigi, too, and left me in the castle. Lucky for me, Count Bleck had enemies. One of them found me, and took me to a place in their world called 'Flipside'. For me, that is where it all began."

I clasped my hands together. At last, Mario was opening up! "Go on," I said.

"I learned that Count Bleck wanted to destroy all of the worlds everywhere in the universe. There was a prophesy that the union of a princess and a beast would release an evil force called the Chaos Heart. Count Bleck used the Chaos Heart to make the void. My task was to collect eight Pure Hearts to destroy it."

_Chaos Heart? Pure Hearts?_ I was starting to get lost. "Wait," I said. "What are these hearts?"

Mario shrugged again. "I don't know. They were just - heart-shaped things. I think of them as energies - the Pure Hearts were good, the Chaos Heart was evil." He took a sip of his coffee, and stared into the cup.

I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but it seemed that Count Bleck had kidnapped Princess Peach and King Bowser because they fit the description of the princess and the evil beast in the prophesy. I waited for Mario to carry on.

"After I start to look for the Pure Hearts, I got news that Princess Peach had been found unconscious in Flipside. When she woke up she was saying crazy things about being King Bowser's wife, but she could not remember making wedding vows." He sighed. "Even now she thinks she is still married. She is afraid that if Bowser comes to kidnap her now, we have no right to stop him."

I nearly spat out my herbal tea at this. If this was the root of her depression, it explained everything. "But that is preposterous!" I said. "Isn't there any way you can prove to her that the wedding didn't happen?"

He shook his head. "The princess says the Chaos Heart is proof she is married, because of the prophesy. She blames herself for causing the void. She wanted to fight and help me find the Pure Hearts, because she felt bad."

The thought made me dizzy. My poor princess! To think that she'd willingly put herself in danger to atone for her guilt... I wanted to go back to the castle and reassure her, right then. But I knew it would do no good. She would need proof. "Master Mario, weren't there any witnesses at all? Can't anybody say for certain what happened? What about everybody else who was kidnapped along with Princess Peach and Bowser? What about Luigi?"

Mario closed his fist around his teaspoon. "Luigi saw the wedding, with all of the missing troops. He said Princess Peach was hypnotised, and the Chaos Heart was already growing. He said he tried to rescue her before it was too late. But he disturbed the Chaos Heart somehow, and caused a big explosion."

I couldn't express how relieved I felt. If the princess wasn't in control of her senses, the marriage would have been null and void. "Well, that's good news, isn't it?" I said.

"For Princess Peach, maybe."

"What do you mean, Master Mario? Now that Luigi is well enough, he can go to the castle and tell the princess himself."

"No," said Mario. "Luigi thinks he stopped the wedding in time, but he was too late to stop the Chaos Heart. He thinks the void is his fault." He pulled his collar down to reveal the extent of the bruising around his neck. "In the middle of the night, Mr. L came back. He came into my room, and tried to kill me. Mr. L's mission is to kill Princess Peach, too. I cannot allow him to go to the castle."


	18. Fragment 18

**Fragment 18**

It was as well she'd kept me in a state of hypnotic paralysis, because when it all dawned on me, I don't know what I would have done.

All this time lost; the days marked by that jumping sunbeam, the missing hours she'd tried to hide by making sure she looked the same, had been stolen from me by Luigi. Ever since Dimentio had executed me, my life had become a series of fragments, with nothing to join them together. Now I knew why. Between those fractured memories Luigi had been coming back, stealing my consciousness, stealing my very existence, so he could resume his pathetic life alongside Mario. It explained that memory in the hospital , and the continuity shift to the memory at Mario's house. Luigi had been coming back, even since I'd found myself here with Nastasia, and she'd been hiding it from me all along.

Disgusted, I turned my head away from her. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Don't come all innocent with me. You betrayed me, Nastasia, and you know it. You created me from that... that... wimp. Whatever happened to undo your work, you should have fixed it! But you let him grow back until it had driven me mad. Then you have the nerve to tell me he wants me out of _his _head! He is the enemy! Mario is still alive..."

"...and Count Bleck is dead," she hissed. "I haven't betrayed anyone. I _loved_ Bleck, Mr. L. But he mourned the loss of his first love, and he made it clear that I couldn't hope to be a substitute. He couldn't bear to live in a universe that didn't contain her. That's why he started a chain reaction that would destroy all worlds. He may have promised us all a new world where we could have everything we wanted, but he's gone now. He can't grant your continuity now, and he could never grant my wish."

"Well that's all very touching, Nastasia," I said, "but I'm not interested in your sordid love life."

"You still don't get it, do you? Count Bleck is _dead. _The deal's off. Our orders have been cancelled. Mario isn't our enemy any more." That hardened look of hers returned, the one I'd known so well from the days when she commanded me and my fellow servants. "We've all gone back to our former lives, 'k? Back to before we pledged our allegiance. But you - it's going to be more difficult for you."

I breathed so fast I felt giddy. _Former lives?_ So she _had _been playing with me all along. Making me relive my life just so that I could suffer the ultimate indignity of knowing I was to be assimilated back into that weak minded idiot... "No. No! You can't do that!"

"Shhh" She stroked my hair but I shook my head from side to side in an effort to stop her. She withdrew and sat with her hands in her lap. I stared at the ceiling. We said nothing for a long time.

"I wouldn't do that to you, even if I was able to." Her voice had softened, but it grated on me even more. "Dimentio broke my spell. He brought Luigi back..."

"He deserved to die for that alone."

She scowled at me for interrupting. "He brought Luigi back so he could recreate you a different way, so that you would obey only him. It's a method I can't reverse. But it was flawed."

"Method?" Curiosity made me pay attention. She knew I would want to know how I'd come to be. She'd created me, after all.

"I made a partition in your mind, with you on one side and Luigi on the other," she said. "I switched off Luigi's side of the partition, but I made sure you were complete enough to function independently of him, as an individual, indefinitely. All you needed was a purpose."

"My allegiance to Bleck."

"Correct. Dimentio didn't have my hypnotic skills. Instead, he used a living implant called a floro sprout. Its roots grow into the victim's brain and remove all self-will. The floro sprout affected both sides of the partition. Dimentio commanded your side to fight Mario, but he didn't think to command Luigi's side to switch off. Even now, after the surgery, the two sides still compete for consciousness."

"Surgery?"

"You underwent extensive brain surgery to have the thing removed."

"The hospital memory..."

She nodded. "The floro sprout might be physically gone, but Dimentio's commands still control you."

"No. Nobody controls me. I am Mr. L. The Green Thunder!"

She adjusted her glasses and squinted into my eyes.

I couldn't look away. "What... what are you doing, Nastasia?"

"Proving that you are wrong." Then that cursed sunbeam shifted again.

But I forgot my anger when I felt a delicious warmth flood through my limbs and swirl around my chest. It pulsed, radiating outwards as waves of pins and needles. Every vein, every muscle buzzed into life. I could feel my chest rising and falling, every inch of my lungs inflating with air. I ran my thumbs over my fingernails, feeling their sharp edges. I splayed my hands and succumbed to a full body stretch. I couldn't remember feeling this refreshed.

I looked around for her, but I seemed to be alone.

Suspicious, I raised myself up on my elbows. What did this mean? She trusted me now? I was officially sane? I called into the darkness. "Nastasia?"

"Mr. L."

The sound of his voice made my blood run cold. I leapt off the cot. I didn't want to conduct this conversation lying down. "You think you've come to gloat, Mr. Jumpsallthetime?"

He stepped into the sunbeam, his eyes hidden in the shadow of his red cap. "No," he said.

I feigned an advance, but he stood still. Why wouldn't he react? I ran my fingers over my bare face. Of course. "It looks like I forgot to wear my mask today," I said. "Oh dear. That puts you in an awkward position, doesn't it?" I took a step forward. "You can't bring yourself to hurt me. What a shame. I was hoping for an even fight." I couldn't help grinning. This was going to be too easy. "Ah well." I shrugged for effect. "Have at you."

I sprang forward, but the moment my feet left the floor I felt a sharp sting in my neck and a rush of nausea.I found myself back on that cot, fighting my paralysis, with Nastasia watching over me. "No! He was there!" Unless she'd performed an illusion. "Wasn't he?"

"Yes, Mario was there," she said. "Now, tell me. If you are not still under Dimentio's control, or Count Bleck's, for that matter, why did you attack him?"

The question stumped me. I didn't know. I truly didn't know. No, I _did _know. Killing Mario was my purpose. She said I was complete enough to exist as an individual, independently of Luigi if I had a purpose. Without it...

What would have happened to me if I had succeeded?


	19. Fragment 19

**Fragment 19**

I stared across the table at Mario as I tried to comprehend what he'd just told me. "He tried to _kill _you? What triggered it?"

Mario glanced around the cafe and lowered his voice. "Last night, it was the first time we talked about the wedding," he said. "And it made Luigi upset. He went to bed saying it was all his fault. The Chaos Heart, the void, everything. Later, in the night, he came into my room, but he was Mr. L. He tried to strangle me. I fought for my _life_, Toadsworth." Mario paled as he spoke. "I tied him up and used the tranquiliser dart on him. When he woke, he was Luigi again. He remembers nothing."

I cast my mind back to the first time Mr. L had emerged, at the hospital. Luigi had been trying to tell me he'd been at fault for something then. Was guilt a trigger? I felt terrible for Luigi, but now Mr. L had returned a second time, he'd become a potential danger. "I suppose he's still unaware of all this," I said.

Mario gave me a solemn look. "He knows, now," he said. "What could I do? He woke up on the floor in my room with his hands tied, and he didn't know why. I cannot lie to my brother."

I could only imagine how Luigi had taken the news, but I felt compelled to ask Mario anyway. The poor fellow shook his head.

"It was too much for him. Mr. L came back again, in front of my eyes." He shuddered as he said it. "It was too soon for another tranquiliser. So all I could do was talk to him. But I learned that if I talk to him in Italian, he stops. I think that Mr. L does not understand Italian."

I sat back in my chair. "Why, Master Mario, that is useful information indeed! You should be telling this to Dr. Toadley."

It was the wrong thing to say. Mario's expression darkened. "Luigi is my brother. Dr. Toadley cannot help him."

My heart sank. It was rare for Mario to talk so openly, and especially in the aftermath of this Count Bleck business. I'd learned so much in this short time, but I sensed the conversation was about to end. If he left the cafe now, I'd be no closer to finding a solution to the princess's problems. I felt confident Luigi had that solution, but having him re-live the wedding again to help the princess might trigger another L episode.

I looked at Mario's obstinate expression and decided on a different approach. "Are you saying you can stop an L attack just by talking to him?"

"It worked once," was his reply.

"So, if you are with him, the risk to the princess will be less."

Mario frowned. "Wait. What are you saying?"

I played my strongest card. "Master Mario, you have left him alone at the library, knowing he could have another episode at any moment. Unless Master Luigi's problem can be controlled, he is a threat to the princess and to our kingdom. I have no choice but to have him contained in the hospital until we are sure it won't happen again."

His face flushed. "Toadsworth, you're overreacting. When he's happy with his books he is not thinking about the Chaos Heart."

"Ah, but we can't control his thoughts, can we?"

Mario stood up so abruptly he knocked his chair over backwards. Several other customers looked around at him. With an apologetic nod at the waitress, he picked it up and sat down again. "You are not locking him up, Toadsworth," he said. "I can take care of him."

I pushed harder. "So much so, that you could protect the princess from him? You said yourself that you wouldn't allow him to speak to her about the wedding, because she is one of Mr. L' s targets. If you cannot manage the risk in any situation, then I have no alternative."

It must have been hard for Mario. I felt like I was playing dirty by forcing this decision on him. I just hoped he would understand my predicament. I couldn't have Mr. L threatening the princess, but at the same time I needed Luigi to help release her from this depressive state of hers.

He lifted his cap and ran his hands through his hair. "We can take precautions," he said," but it is not nice for Luigi. He must agree to them, first. I will talk to him."

* * *

My pen hovered over a blank page for a long time. The message Parakarry had brought the very next day was from Luigi himself. Unlike his spoken English, his written English was faultless, as was his handwriting. It expressed his full and unconditional consent to the safeguards I'd proposed. In his words, he would do anything if it would help Princess Peach. It was fighting talk from him. I hoped he was as brave as it sounded.

With Luigi's agreement received, I now had the job of persuading the princess. My frustration at her continuous ignoring of my attempts to contact her came to the fore, and I am afraid to say my message came out stronger than intended. I held nothing back; I gave every detail of Parakarry's information from the Koopa kingdom, and every detail of Luigi's Mr. L episodes, including his attempt to murder Mario. I made it clear Luigi had information about the wedding he'd hitherto been unable to impart. It must have shaken her enough, because my note came back within hours with a reply scrawled on the back:

_'Tonight. Take whatever precautions you need._'

And that was how I found myself walking down the torchlit corridor of the castle strongrooms, with Dr. Toadley and Princess Peach at my side. The doctor briefed her on the safety aspects of the meeting as we went. _Don't approach him. Don't speak. Watch out for the tell-tale change in his eyes. _

Whether she even heard him, I could not say. She walked on as if she were in a trance. Her perfectly groomed appearance didn't hide the stoop in her shoulders, or the haunted look in her face. I hoped for her sake, Luigi could go through with this.

We turned a corner and walked the narrow passage between the storage rooms, small alcoves in the walls with sliding barred doors drawn across them. These were the closest we had to prison cells, although I cannot recall us keeping a prisoner there in Princess Peach's lifetime. But today I'd had one of them prepared for that very purpose. When we arrived, Mario greeted us at the open door to the cell, while Luigi nervously retreated inside.

Dr. Toadley followed Luigi in, and told him to sit on the chair that had been provided. He examined Luigi's eyes for any sign of Mr. L, and when he was satisfied, he asked Luigi if he was sure he wanted to continue. But Luigi stood up and nodded, and so once the doctor had left the cell, Mario slid the bars shut, turning the key in the lock. He reached inside and the brothers squeezed hands for a moment, before Mario moved away.

During all of this, I'd kept my eye on Princess Peach. Her face looked hollow - it was as if she wasn't even aware of what was going on. Would she even listen or respond to Luigi? I began to doubt my insistence on this meeting, when she looked directly at him.

"You have something important to tell me about the wedding," she said, her voice dull and emotionless. "So, tell me."

From behind the bars, Luigi stared first at Mario, then at Dr. Toadley, then back at the princess. "Y..yes. The... the wedding, it was not finished. You were... you were..." he glanced at Mario for help. "_Sei stato ipnotizzato."  
_

Princess Peach blinked. "What did he say?"

"He said, you were in a state of hypnosis," said Mario.

I watched the princess's eyes widen. Luigi noticed too, because he stepped up to the bars and burst into a long, passionate speech in his own language. I signalled to the princess to move back. The passage was narrow enough that he could reach out at least half way across it if he'd wanted to.

But Mario stayed put, and began to translate. "He says the words came from your mouth, but they did not come from your heart. He says..." Mario paused to listen as Luigi continued. "He says the chaos heart was forming, but it was not complete. The wedding was not complete."

Peach looked from Mario to Luigi. " But how..."

"I... I stop the wedding." Luigi had reverted back to English. "I jump on the... the thing with the chaos heart. Then it... it..." he made wild movements with his arms.

"...Exploded?" Peach asked.

Luigi sat down on the chair and stared at the floor. He muttered his reply in Italian.

"He thinks _he_ released the Chaos Heart, not you," said Mario, as Luigi mumbled on. "He says... he tried to reach you, but he landed by accident on the pedestal where the Chaos Heart was growing. It... then it grew to its full size. He says... he says it made an explosion. He says... then he found himself lost, somewhere in Count Bleck's castle."

I can't say I could fully picture the events described, but then, I hadn't been present at the wedding. It seemed to make sense to the princess, though, and I couldn't even now describe the turmoil she must have felt. She faltered, and leaned against the opposite wall. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead, lowered her face. I could see tears welling. I could see she wanted to believe Luigi, but something was stopping her.

"Your Highness!" I was surprised by the forcefulness in Luigi's voice. "You did not say it with your heart. I stop Count Bleck to say you are married." He stood up again and grabbed at the bars. "Not married!"

I felt proud of him in that moment. I'm sure Mario would have been, too, if he hadn't been fussing around the princess.

"Is it true?" I heard her whisper, as he supported her with one arm.

"Why you ask me, Peach?" said Mario. "I was not there. Luigi was there. He is telling you what he saw!"

I decided it was time for me to reinforce the point, too. I turned to face her. "You heard what Master Luigi said, your Highness. You were not in control of your senses when you gave your vows. Count Bleck did not have a chance to declare you married. Master Luigi saw to that!"

What she said then I don't know, because something grabbed me by the arm and pulled me backwards until I slammed against Luigi's cell bars. Too winded to yell, I craned around to see those blank, silvery eyes glaring at me from behind them.

His lip curled. "What _are_ you?"

"No! Toadsworth!" Mario moved towards me, but Luigi gripped my arm even harder.

"You can have your little mushroom-headed friend back once you let me out." It sent chills through me to hear words like this through Luigi's voice. Yet, even as he said it, I felt his grasp slacken. Before I knew it, Mario had pulled me away as Luigi sank down against the bars, with a small dart embedded in his shoulder.

Dr. Toadley glared at us, as he lowered his tranquiliser gun. "Did you keep watch for the signs? No, you did not. Lucky for you that I was." He laid the gun down on the floor. "Toadsworth, are you hurt?"

I assured him my injuries amounted to no more than bruising, and half of that had been to my dignity. I, like Mario, was more concerned about Luigi.

The doctor scowled over his veil. "Are your worries misguided? Yes, they are. Am I worried for Luigi? I am not. I worry more for the sanity of Mr. L."


	20. Fragment 20

**Fragment 20**

My face numbed. Pulsing spots blotted out my vision and the ceiling began to turn. I gasped for air. _That_ was really all I was? A part of some useless nobody, programmed to follow a simple command? I re-ran that moment with Mario again. I could have stopped myself attacking him, couldn't I?_ Couldn't I?_ Who was I kidding? Nastasia had laid the proof in front of me. My blind instinct to terminate him had overridden everything. I couldn't resist it, because I didn't want to even contemplate resisting it. I imagined him, standing in front of me, and imagined fighting the urge to destroy him. Yet, even though I knew Count Bleck was dead, I couldn't stop myself. I had no control. I'd never had control! I... I...

... I'd been deceived by the man I'd pledged my allegiance to. His promise was impossible, because I was always destined to be absorbed back into the person from whom I'd been extracted. My continuity was Luigi's consciousness. My memory was his history. My identity was...

I screamed. Louder and harder than I'd ever done before. I didn't want this. I didn't want anything. I didn't want to _be_ this... this... creation. I didn't want to _be._

I didn't want to be Luigi.

She let me scream, this time. I howled until I had no breath left, until my head pounded with pain, until all I could do was stare upwards in silence, letting the tears roll. She wiped them away with a cool, damp cloth, but they kept coming, just to spite her. I pleaded with her to just end it for me now, but she said:

"Luigi doesn't want to die."

_Luigi_ doesn't want to... ? I didn't even have the energy for rage. What did I care about _his_ wishes? "I didn't ask to be created!" My voice was so hoarse, it made no more than a croak.

She narrowed her eyes. "He didn't ask to be your host."

Why wouldn't she leave me alone? Hadn't she messed with my mind enough without trying to make me feel sorry for that idiot now? Why should I care about him? I turned my head away from her, only to catch sight of my reflection in the mirror at my side. Veins pulsed at my temples; my skin had gone a ghastly grey. Those weird, silvery eyes, now bloodshot from the tears, made me look like a monster. I closed them. I never wanted to open them again.

"What do you _really_ wish for, Mr. L?"

What did I _want?_ I couldn't _have_ what I wanted. The tears still seeped out, no matter how tightly I held my eyes shut.

"Childhood memories? Friends? Relatives? A background? Full control over your own life, without being Luigi?"

I kept my eyes shut, but I nodded. Yes. The continuity. The memory. My own identity. But I _had_ no background, because I'd been dragged out of Luigi's mind to begin my own sorry existence outside of it. And unless he rolled over and gave up, I'd never have full control over my own life. Why was she torturing me with what I knew I couldn't have?

I felt her hand stroking my hair. It made me feel sick, but I didn't have the strength to pull away. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you, Mr. L," she said. "It was a cruel trick, but you needed to figure out the truth about yourself one way or another. And I know you don't want to die. Not really."

Even thoughts evaded me, let alone words.

"Luigi doesn't care about or believe the hell you're going through, right now. He doesn't believe you even have the capability to feel. To him, you're a nuisance I was called in to eradicate. But now it's time for _him_ to face some truth. I'm going to prove it to him, 'k? He's going to wake up feeling everything you feel about yourself, right now. Get ready for a break in continuity."

I was going to tell her to save herself the bother, when I felt her hand brush my shoulder. _Wait._ I had feeling in my shoulders! I opened my eyes. The hot, swollen stinging from my tears had vanished; as had the pain in my head. I felt refreshed, but disorientated, and I realised I was sat almost upright, my back supported by pillows. One of my hands rested on the table beside the cot, a folded piece of paper under my fingers. My other hand rested by my side. I looked down at myself, surprised to see myself fully dressed, boots and all. I didn't know why, but I felt nervous.

Nastasia smiled at me. "Yes, you can move," she said. "From the waist up, at least." She nodded at the sheet of paper. "Why don't you look at it?"

I lifted my hand and picked up the note. It was folded over once, and written on the back, in my own handwriting, were the words, _'Mr. L'._ My heart began to pump. I glanced at Nastasia, and then unfolded it to reveal just one sentence:_  
_

_Mario is your brother._

_Luigi._


	21. Fragment 21

**Fragment 21**

There is a saying from Earth, that time is the greatest healer. At my advanced age, I can attest to that. Luigi's revelations about the wedding, and the Mr. L transformation it caused, had a deeper impact on us all than anyone could have imagined. I knew it would take a long time for the dust to settle. And settle, it eventually did, but in a very different way from how I expected.

In the days that immediately followed, the princess began to venture out of her room, of her own accord. She'd sit in one of the drawing rooms for a while, and even exchange a few words with her attendants, before retreating again. Then, she began to accept the occasional visitor from outside the castle, and this, interestingly enough, included Mario.

I noticed they'd become a little - how should I say it - closer to each other than before. I decided not to discourage it; while Mario was far from ideal as a royal consort, a human companion of the opposite gender had been missing from her life. I couldn't be clear whether the relationship was romantic or not, but his company seemed to have a positive effect. With regards to the source of her depression, Mario did his best to reinforce Luigi's message. There was no evidence that the wedding ceremony had been completed, and as Mario pointed out, if Bowser had wanted to come and claim his 'wife', he would have attempted a kidnapping by then.

However, while Mario's friendship with the princess flourished, his attitude towards me had become hostile. On that fateful night, I'd had no choice but to have Luigi taken straight from the castle strongrooms to the hospital, where he was to remain until his Mr. L attacks could be controlled. But as Mario saw it, I'd manipulated the situation to secure my wish that Luigi should be locked away. He believed I'd taken advantage of Luigi's goodwill and encouraged him to speak about the wedding to Princess Peach, knowing that Mr. L was guaranteed to emerge in front of her.

Of course, nothing could have been further from my mind. I didn't want this, any more than anyone else, but the princess's welfare was my priority. Luigi - in that state - was a threat. If anyone could have proven me wrong on that fact, I'd have been the happiest Toad in the kingdom.

But Luigi's condition deteriorated. Visits to the hospital meant either listening to Mr. L trying to break out of his room, or watching Luigi struggle to recognise us through the haze of sedatives he'd been given.

It tore Mario's heart apart, and he laid the blame on me, personally. He would not speak to me or even acknowledge my presence, and that was just as hard for me to bear. We were in unspoken agreement, however, not to share the situation with Princess Peach. She herself, still had a long road ahead of her before she was well enough to resume her royal responsibilities. Worries about Luigi, and Mario's animosity towards me, would only hamper her recovery.

Although I knew I'd made the most sensible decision over Luigi, that twinge of doubt had always been there. So, when Dr. Toadley arrived at my study one evening to brief me on the results of his observations and tests, I couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

He spread his notes out on my desk and sat opposite me, and began by giving me a piercing stare. "Do I have a diagnosis? Yes, I do," he said. "And a cure? Indeed I have."

I let my breath go.

Dr. Toadley leaned forward. His veil couldn't hide the frown around his eyes, and it made me feel uneasy. "But I cannot treat him."

I didn't understand, and asked whether that meant he was going to refer Luigi to another doctor.

He shook his head. "Mr. L is an assassin, built through hypnosis, from elements of Luigi's psyche. No doctor can undo that." He rifled through his notes and picked out a single sheet, covered on both sides with writing. "Are there patterns to his attacks? There are. Here. Evidence that guilt and self-doubt are the triggers." He handed the sheet to me. It described the circumstances before each of Luigi's attacks, starting with the very first one I'd witnessed at the hospital, the two he'd had at home, and the one he'd had in the castle strongrooms. More disturbing, were the records of the dozens he'd suffered at the hospital since. Dates, times, duration, details of the moments immediately prior... It seemed even the knowledge of having had an attack was enough to send Luigi straight into another.

"This is worse than I could have ever imagined," I said. "His guilt over the Chaos Heart was just the start of it. But now... How much time does Master Luigi spend as himself?"

"Hardly any at all," said the doctor, as he took the notes from my hands. "Do the sedatives stop the attacks? They do, but I cannot give them too frequently. Sometimes, I have no choice but to let Mr. L smash up the room until he passes out from exhaustion. When Luigi wakes and realises what has happened, it is only minutes before Mr. L returns." He sighed, making the veil over his face billow. "Luigi is caught in a vicious circle, Toadsworth. Mr. L is consuming him."

I felt terrible. If anyone was to blame, I felt it should have been me. Had sending him to the hospital made him worse? Perhaps Mario _was_ right. Perhaps he could have managed his brother's condition... "Keeping him in hospital - it hasn't helped, has it?"

Dr. Toadley tutted. "Was it a sensible decision? Yes, it was. Did it enable me to draw conclusions about his condition? It did. But he needs treatment soon, if he is to survive."

I banged my fist on my desk. "Then begin it, Doctor!"

"Do you understand?" He raised his voice. "I think not. To cure the attacks, Luigi must change his perception of himself. In his condition..."

A creak on the floorboards outside my door caught me by surprise. I raised my hand to silence him. "Somebody's listening," I whispered. "Be a good chap, and go see who it is."

The doctor stood up, crept towards the door, and waited. When the creak sounded again, he flung the door open. Princess Peach squeaked and jumped backwards, her hands to her mouth.

I stood up. "Your highness! What are you..."

The princess composed herself and cleared her throat. "I... I want to see Luigi," she said.

To say I was shocked, would have been an understatement. She stood in the doorway in a drab looking gown, tearing at a frayed handkerchief with her fingers. Even Mario hadn't yet managed to entice her to go out of doors. Then I remembered. She probably had no idea that Luigi was still hospitalised. "Your highness," I said, "it's not very wise, considering..."

"...You and Mario have been hiding the truth from me," she said, stepping into the room. "Every time I ask about Luigi, Mario changes the subject. I'm not stupid, Toadsworth. I guessed he wasn't well, and from what I hear, it seems that I was right. I'd like... I'd like Dr. Toadley to accompany me to the hospital tonight." She trembled as she said it, and my heart dropped. She must have heard everything. Not only that, she felt strongly enough to want to face her paranoia and actually leave the castle. I admired the strength she showed, but it worried me, too. This could be more damaging to her than good!

I looked to the doctor, hoping he'd not be afraid to back me up on opposing this preposterous idea, but he glanced back and forth between us, clearly unsure who he was supposed to obey.

"Will he be in a fit state to receive visitors?" he said, his voice quivering. "I fear not. Luigi is heavily sedated at the moment. Perhaps..."

"There, Toadsworth," said the princess, squaring her shoulders. "Then it will be an ideal time for me to go, since he'll be incapable of causing me any harm."

* * *

Seeing Luigi collapsed on his bed like that, it was difficult to imagine how he could harm anyone at all, he'd lost so much weight. The princess stifled a gasp at the sight of him, and no wonder. He looked like death. An intravenous tube ran from his bandaged hand; since Mr. L was too crazed to eat or drink, and Luigi too drowsy, it was the only way to at least keep him hydrated. The livid scars from his surgery still showed through the hair that was growing back around them.

"Luigi?" she said, sitting down beside him. "Luigi - wake up. It's me, Peach."

His eyes opened a crack, but they looked glazed and unseeing. He moaned, and closed them again.

"Luigi! I've come to see you."

This time he opened them wider.

"I know you're sleepy, Luigi," she said, closing her hand around his fingers. "But I just wanted to thank you for what you did, back at the castle. I wasn't in my right mind to accept what you said about the wedding, but you are right. If it hadn't have been for you, I'd be married to Bowser, now. I owe you so much."

His face creased into a grimace, and he let out a distressed whine. I felt my muscles stiffen, ready to pull her away from him.

"Don't feel bad, Luigi!" the princess squeezed his hand tighter. "The Chaos Heart wasn't your fault. Mario can destroy it ten times over if he needed to, but he'd never be able to un-marry me from Bowser. You made a difference when it counted, Luigi, and that is what mattered."

He opened his eyes again, and to my relief, they were still normal. "Peach?" he whispered.

"I'm here."

He closed them once more, and sighed. It might have been my imagination, but I thought he looked a little more peaceful. We sat together in silence, until his long, even breaths told us that he'd drifted off to sleep.

The princess looked over her shoulder at the doctor. "Will he remember this?"

"Do I think so?" Dr. Toadley shrugged. "I cannot say."

"Then please, find me a pen, some writing paper and an envelope. I don't want him to forget."

She left the letter on Luigi's pillow, and we followed her as she tiptoed out of the room, Dr. Toadley locking the door behind us.

* * *

Dr. Toadley told me that Luigi read the note the very next morning, and kept it clenched in his hand all day. It heralded the beginning of an attack-free stretch of nearly two whole days, and when the princess learned of the positive effect it had had on him, it was the first time I'd seen that bright, sunny smile of hers since before Count Bleck had kidnapped her.

I understood, then, what Dr. Toadley had meant about no doctor being able to help. Princess Peach was Luigi's cure, just as he was hers.

It took every bit of courage she could find to step outside the castle and walk through Toad Town to visit him, first, under cover of darkness, then in broad daylight. Knowing he was her incentive to overcome her agoraphobia strengthened Luigi's sense of self-worth. It seemed to prove Dr. Toadley's findings, because Mr. L never once emerged during the princess's visits.

Little by little, the frequency of his attacks lessened until at last, Dr. Toadley took the decision to release Luigi from the hospital, on the condition that he convalesced at the castle, and that Mario stayed with him at all times.

Perhaps I am over cautious, but I felt uneasy about the Mario brothers staying here. There was no assurance Mr. L had gone for good, and my relationship with Mario had yet to defrost. But at least, the decision pleased Mario. I suppose it satisfied his protective instinct towards the princess and his brother, and gave him the chance to prove he could manage any 'L situation' that might arise.

As I watched the two brothers arrive at the castle gates with their belongings, I wondered whether he could.


	22. Fragment 22

**Fragment 22**

* * *

_Mario is your brother._

_Luigi._

I looked up from the note, to Nastasia. "You have got to be kidding me."

She seemed surprised, but said nothing.

"You expect me to believe Luigi wrote this? You're a liar. You had me write this under hypnosis. It's even in my handwriting!"

"_Luigi's_ handwriting."

I screwed the paper up and threw it as far as I could. "_My_ handwriting!"

She scooped up the mirror from beside me and held it in front of me, at arm's length. "Remember! Mario recognised your face as someone he knew. _Luigi's _face. You have _Luig__i's_ body, _Luigi'__s_ hands. Wouldn't you expect your handwriting to be the same?"

I stretched forward to take the mirror from her but she moved out of my reach. She probably thought I was going to smash it to pieces. I felt myself tip sideways; she'd only freed my upper body from paralysis, and I needed my arms to lever myself upright. "But you said Luigi speaks a different language. How come he wrote it in English, then?"

"He can read and understand English, but he doesn't speak it well. It's not his mother tongue."

She had an answer for everything. _Why?_ Why was she doing this to me? How could I believe this? How could I believe anything she said? What _could_ I believe? If forcing me to see myself as nothing better than an automaton wasn't bad enough... My head began to pound again at the thought of what I was. I clutched my hair with my hands, when one of my fingertips found the baldness of a scar. I traced its track across my scalp. She'd said I'd had brain surgery. This felt like a surgical scar. I'd recalled memories of time in hospital. That was proof. I could believe _that._..

"Mr. L?"

I took long, deep breaths, imagining each one filling me with a cool, soothing anaesthetic. "What's the point? Why didn't you absorb me back into his head while I was too insane to notice? It would've been more humane, at least..."

"I already told you, 'k? I can't do that. Dimentio broke my spell by making you believe he executed you, but when he recreated you with the floro sprout, he forgot to switch Luigi's side off. You and Luigi have been fighting one another for control ever since, and that body of yours almost expired from malnutrition as a result." She stood up and paced around my cot in exasperation. "I can't reverse what I did to create you, because Dimentio broke my spell. And Dimentio can't reverse what he did, because he's dead..."

I lay there, stunned, wondering how much more of this I could take. Then, a moment of clarity struck me. If I was just an automaton, then once I'd completed my task I'd be redundant. I wouldn't 'need' to be, any more. I wouldn't be fighting Luigi for continuity. I'd die fulfilled. It was better than persuading Nastasia to end it for me now. I levered myself forward. "Then just let me kill him, Nastasia. Just let me kill Mario. Then I'll have done what I was created to do. Then I won't have this torture any more. And Luigi will have what he wants, because I won't be bothering him any more, and he'll still be alive... _Please._.."

She shook her head. "Mario is your _brother_."

I flung myself back against the pillows. "If you want me to believe that... If you want me to believe Luigi wrote that, prove it."

"Why _don't_ you believe me?"

I lowered my head and parted my hair so that she could see the scars that ran through it. "I believe _this_, because it is hard evidence."

Nastasia sighed. "I see."

The sunbeam changed a little. The hands on the clock jumped. The mirror stood beside it again. A framed photograph had appeared in Nastasia's hands.

"I told Luigi you didn't believe him," she said, her tone cold. "He went home and brought back this." She turned the photo around so that I could see it, making sure she stood beyond my reach.

_He_ fetched it? "What, you allow him to come and go as he pleases, and I'm stuck here, half paralysed, so you can fulfil your sadistic fantasies?"

Nastasia scowled. "Luigi isn't the dangerous assassin."

_Assassin._ I liked that. It sounded better than _minion_. Dimentio had died, a minion. I'd always be more than that.

"Look at it, Mr. L."

I levelled my gaze at the two faces in the photograph. I couldn't help feel my muscles tighten at the sight of Mario. I did my best to defy my murderous instinct and instead, concentrated on Luigi. They looked like younger men in this picture. Years younger. Mario looked slimmer. Luigi didn't even have a moustache. But I could see the resemblance between them. Particularly around the eyes... But _my_ eyes weren't like that. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. "Why do I look like this?" I pointed to make it clear what I meant.

Nastasia hesitated. My eyes looked hideous, and she knew it. "It's... it's a physical manifestation of the partition that separates you from Luigi," she said. "When Luigi's side is dormant, the pupils close up and the colour in the irises fades."

I grabbed the mirror before she could, and held it close to my face. I could just make out faint, silvery rings marking where my irises should have been. I let the mirror drop on my lap. A partition. A barrier. It brought back everything I'd felt during those very first moments of my existence, when I'd been trapped inside that transparent box at Castle Bleck. That feeling of being shut out - of having lost so much...

_No_. She'd told me right at the beginning. She'd told me I'd lost nothing. She'd told me I was a jewel of strength in the psyche of a weakling. I was the perfection that was left when all his flaws were suppressed. I stared at the image of the young Luigi. That meant I'd always been hidden inside him. I just hadn't been allowed to get out until Nastasia had erected that partition and separated me from him. And if I'd always been there, if I'd always been a part of him, then every damn memory of his, right down to his native language belonged to me as much as it did to him.

"I've regained my memory," I said.

"You've regained enough to work out who you are," she corrected me.

"So, how do I regain his?"

Nastasia lowered her eyes, but I thought I saw a faint smile. She placed the photograph on the cabinet beside me, next to my mirror, and my clock. "My third and final gift," she said, "although really, it's from Luigi, not from me."

I stared at her. I didn't understand.

"Remember what they mean," she said, walking towards the door. "I'll let you think about it, 'k?"


	23. Fragment 23

**Fragment 23**

* * *

Ninety-two days, those Mario brothers spent with us at the castle. I know it was ninety-two because I counted every one. I've always had a great deal of time for Mario and Luigi, but living with them proved to be an entirely different matter.

When Mario brought Luigi back from the hospital, he took Dr. Toadley's orders literally. He wouldn't let his brother out of his sight, and followed him from room to room with a tranquiliser dart in his pocket, just in case of a relapse. This drove Luigi to despair. Barely a day went by without his frustrations sparking a full-blown shouting match between the two of them. Humans can raise their voices to deafening levels, and the Marios' rows could be overheard from some distance. Down in the kitchens, I would turn a blind eye when the cooks and maids made fun, by mock-translating what they thought the brothers might be saying.

Luigi, poor fellow, did find some respite from his brother's surveillance, though. At night, when Mario was asleep, he would creep out of the guest suite to visit me in my study. There, we would sit until the early hours of the morning, drinking tea, playing cards and discussing the Spirits from the Outer Realm, a subject I have to say I'd begun to share his fascination with.

I enjoyed Luigi's company, but the relentless late nights took their toll on me. Not only that, Mario still hadn't defrosted since the day I'd had Luigi committed to the hospital. On the rare occasions Mario spoke to me, he was curt at best, and this made me feel very uncomfortable indeed. Between them, they drove me to so much exhaustion and distress, I would probably have resigned my position, if Luigi's presence at the castle hadn't been so therapeutic for the princess.

Ever grateful for his intervention at the wedding ceremony, Princess Peach had made it her little project to ensure Luigi regained his weight and physical strength. Of course, he was quite capable of seeing to that himself, but he allowed her to indulge in making sure he was eating well, and getting the right amounts of rest and exercise. Under Mario's watchful eye, they'd walk in the castle courtyard together, and when Dr. Toadley declared Luigi stable enough to go outside of the castle gates, the three of them would take themselves off for the day, either to Toad Town or out into the countryside.

For us, the servants of the castle, it felt like the sun coming out from behind a heavy cloud. Princess Peach's radiant smiles grew brighter as time went on, lighting up the castle and our hearts. Most of all, her recovery seemed to have dealt with Mr. L for good. He hadn't emerged once during the Marios' stay. Even when Dr. Toadley tested him by attempting to provoke an attack, Luigi retained control.

At last the day arrived, when Dr. Toadley announced that the Mario brothers could go home. At the same time he declared Princess Peach fit to reign, and with great relief I officially signed all responsibilities for the kingdom back to her.

Normality beckoned. The princess's long-postponed homecoming celebration came and went. Over the course of the following year, the number of citizens still missing in the wake of the great void dwindled from thousands to hundreds, and finally into single figures. It seemed that the scars left by Count Bleck's madness were set to disappear.

Almost.

I'd brought the mail to the princess's office one morning, and as usual, waited while she read it, in case she had any instructions for me to follow. On that particular day, it included an envelope addressed to her personally.

She raised her eyebrows at the handwriting. "It's from Luigi," she said.

I shared her surprise, but said nothing, not wishing to ask after the contents of what might have been a private letter.

She frowned as she read, moving from the first page on to the second. When she'd finished, she put the notepaper down on her desk. "That's odd. Mario's been called to a quest."

"Quest?" I asked. "What sort of a quest?"

"Something to do with dismantling inter-dimensional portals, and closing up a wormhole. He left yesterday."

At the very term 'inter-dimensional', my legs went weak. I leaned on my stick for support, but that wobbled, too. Even though she hadn't invited me to, I had to sit down. "The void... it's happening again?"

Princess Peach looked puzzled. "No, this is something different." She handed the letter to me, to read for myself. "King Bowser's up to something. The wormhole has opened up over his castle."


	24. Fragment 24

**Fragment 24**

* * *

_Clock. Mirror. Photograph._

_Continuity. Identity. Memory._

What did Nastasia expect me to contemplate now? Or was she just going to leave me here until I broke down and accepted that I was biologically related to the man who's life I'd been created to take? I glared around the stony walls of my near-empty room. The crumpled piece of paper bearing Luigi's note lay on the floor where I'd thrown it, by the door which stood open, as it always did, when she left me alone.

_Clock. Mirror. Photograph._

The faces representing my three unfulfilled wishes stared back at me from the table at my side, as if waiting for my next move. And I intended to move. I clenched my teeth and fists, chanelling every ounce of willpower to my legs, fighting to break the paralysis that held them still. I shouted with frustration and punched hard at my thighs. Not a single muscle would move. Not the tiniest twinge of feeling registered anywhere below my navel. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I placed my hands on the bed, just behind my hips, and pushed until I sat upright. My upper abdominal muscles functioned well enough to help me support myself on one arm, while I hooked the other underneath one of my knees and pulled it up. My foot slipped, enough to cause my leg to fall over the side of the mattress, where it swung like a lump of dead meat. I lay back again, anchoring myself with one hand to the cot frame while I grabbed at the other leg. If I could pull that one across, maybe their combined weight would be enough to drag my centre of gravity off the edge.

It wasn't enough. Lying on my back with both my legs dangling, and my spine skewed at an awkward angle, my only other option was to turn over. I levered my torso around until I lay almost crossways, and flung one arm over my chest, twisting my upper body onto its side. After freeing the arm I was laying on, I found a good enough grip on the edge of the mattress, to be able to push myself off the side.

I'd underestimated the height of what I realised was more of a trolley than a cot. Of course, I didn't feel a thing as I hit the stone floor. My numb and useless legs had taken the full force of my fall, but the crunch as I landed suggested that something had bent the wrong way underneath me. I didn't bother to look. If I'd done any damage, it would be Luigi's problem to deal with. I lifted myself up onto my arms and dragged my body across the floor.

Even as I approached the doorway I didn't know what I could hope to achieve by this. I couldn't escape, let alone survive in this condition. But I'd had enough of Nastasia's torture. I needed to know what was outside. I picked up the crumpled note from Luigi and slid it into the pocket of my overalls, and then pulled myself forward and peeped out.

A stone corridor, lit with oil lamps. Nothing surprising, there. What I didn't expect was for it to be deserted. If I were supposed to be that dangerous an assassin - paralysed from the waist down or not - why hadn't Nastasia assigned any security? I tutted at her arrogance, and heaved myself further out of my cell. In fact, this didn't even look like a dungeon. The doors I could see leading from the corridor weren't cell doors. The one opposite me was open, revealing walls hung with colourful tapestries.

Where was I? I turned my head to look down the hallway. A grand, arched door with huge bolts stood at its end. Memories flashed through my mind - running for that door, chased by soldiers...

Quiet foosteps broke the images. I listened. Two, possibly three sets, maybe, accompanied by high-pitched voices, came from the opposite direction. Still lying on my front, I turned my head towards them, but couldn't see anyone. Still, they seemed to be getting closer, which meant I'd have company very soon. I tried to push myself backwards, into my room and out of sight, but my immobile legs acted as a brake, and I couldn't move. Instead, I braced myself, ready to be discovered.

To my astonishment, three little creatures appeared from around a corner the other end of the corridor. Like the ones I'd remembered from the hospital, they had mushroom-shaped heads, except these were white with large red spots.

My eyes. I had to hide them. I closed them and lay as still as I could, listening to their gasps and their squeaky whispers.

The footsteps came closer.

"Don't go too near!"

"But he's out cold!"

"You don't know that."

"Shh! Both of you! No contact, remember? We have to tell Nastasia."

"Yes, but one of us has to stay and watch him."

"Why? He's not going anywhere, is he?"

"He got that far. And look what he's done to his foot..."

"Ugh! No wonder he's passed out..."

"You don't _know_ he's passed out."

"I'll stay. You, go and get Nastasia. You go and find Dr. Toadley. Well, don't just look at me. Go!"

Two sets of footsteps hurried away. I felt the presence of the third creature come so close I could hear it - or him - breathing. Knowing he was probably watching me closely, I tried hard to keep still.

"Luigi?" Although barely a whisper, it almost caused me to give myself away. Should I respond? I couldn't pretend to be Luigi, but it'd still be an opportunity to gain information. I had to make a quick decision; I had no idea how long it would be before Nastasia would return. I felt the creature's hand on my back. He meant well, I was sure of that, but I had no time for niceties.

I calculated his position, and made my move, twisting around and catching his little arm in my fist. I opened my eyes and glared at him. "Where am I?"

The stupid thing fainted with fright. He fell flat on his back and I had to shake him to his senses. When he lifted his head again I did my best to soften my voice. "I'm not going to hurt you," I told him. "But I need to know. Where am I?"

He looked dazed. "N...no... contact..."

_"Who_ said no contact?"

"N...Nastasia..."

"Not any more." I gripped his arm harder. "Where am I? Tell me, or I may change my mind."

Mushroom-Head's mouth quivered. He looked at his arm, and then back at me. "C... Castle Peach."

Castle Peach. That memory flashed by again. Running for that giant door. Soldiers in pursuit.

"Is Mario here?"

He hesitated. I yanked his arm until he squealed. "Yes!" he said with a gasp.

"Peach?"

A nod.

"Bowser?"

He squeaked with fear. "N... no!"

This creature acted as if he were afraid of Bowser. Why? I didn't have time to find out. Footsteps with the distinct click of a lady's pair of heels echoed down the hall. I let Mushroom-Head go. He scooted back from me and cowered by the wall, but didn't run away. I guessed we both knew who'd appear at any moment, and we both knew she had complete control over me.

The continuity break came as no surprise. My next conscious moment saw me back in my room, lying on the cot. My right leg lay raised on a pillow, splints and bandages supporting the bruised and swollen foot. I'd half expected Nastasia to let me feel the pain of the fracture as punishment for my attempt to escape. But my legs remained as dead as ever. She paced the room, waiting for an explanation.

"If you were so concerned about my sanity, keeping me in solitary isn't going to help," I said. "I can't keep playing your games and solving your puzzles. Rid me of Luigi, or kill me. Please! I can't go on like this!"

"You won't achieve anything by talking to the Toads," she said.

_"Toads?_ We are talking about the midget mushroom-heads, right?"

"The midget mushroom-heads, as you call them, refer to themselves as Toads. Luckily, the individual you'd caught hadn't told you anything of consequence." Nastasia stopped pacing and looked at me. "Mr. L. Gathering information from outside won't help you access what's on Luigi's side of the partition. All it will do is add second-hand knowledge to your side."

"Wrong!" I slammed my hands down on the mattress. "I saw that corridor. I've been here before. There were soldiers chasing after me. Toads, and other creatures, too."

"_Your_ memories, not Luigi's." She ran her finger over the photo frame, drawing my eyes to it.

_Mario is your brother._

The photograph proved it. Mario was Luigi's brother, and therefore, by some twisted leap of logic, mine, too. Whenever that picture was taken, I was there, hidden inside Luigi. I was _there_. It was another key. I pulled the note from my pocket and smoothed it out. She couldn't prove Luigi had written this to me, but I could be sure of anything I might write to him.

I turned the note over and placed it on the table beside me, blank side up, and looked up at her. "Give me a pen."


	25. Fragment 25

**Fragment 25**

* * *

We Toads are used to living through times of uncertainty, especially when Mario is out on a quest. Through the ages we've survived repeated raids from the neighbouring Koopa Kingdom. Our greatest and most recent loss was that of our king, when he was taken from this very castle, never to be seen again. Princess Peach was no more than a child at the time, and she spent the rest of her formative years in hiding, living among my own humble family until she'd reached the age when she could rule.

During that time, the koopas left us in relative peace; they saw our kingdom as an extension of their own, since we Toads posed no threat of fighting back. But when they discovered our king had an heir, the raids began again. King Bowser took our princess away, and for a long time we believed our line of human royalty had ended - until Mario arrived in this world.

Mario's dependability rivals the rising of the sun. He has thwarted every attempt by King Bowser to capture Princess Peach. Not only that, he has saved the kingdom of Sarasaland and their Princess Daisy, from the alien fiend known as Tatanga. There is a saying from Mario's home-world,_ 'I'm only human'_. It means _'I am fallible,'_ which is ironic to us Toads; to be human for us is to be undefeatable.

Even so, whenever Mario is away, we can do little more than wait, and hope he will succeed. This time, we waited with an even greater sense of unease; Count Bleck's void, the curse of Mr. L and Princess Peach's depression were all too recent in our memories.

It was as well Mario's quest to destroy the wormhole over Bowser's castle lasted only ten days. We sent scouts to the boundaries of our kingdom, as we always do during his absences, keeping watch for his return. When the word came through that Mario was on his way home, Princess Peach ordered a homecoming celebration for all of Toad Town, for that very evening. Music and festivities continued late into the night, but our guest of honour didn't appear. It was the first time Mario had ever turned down a royal invitation, and Princess Peach, it has to be said, was livid.

The letter she sent to the Marios' house the following morning was so strongly worded, I wouldn't have been surprised if it burned a hole in poor Parakarry's bag on the way there. Mario's arrival in the castle courtyard, a few hours later, caused quite a stir - but for a completely different reason.

"Master Toadsworth!" My assistant, Toadlon, turned from looking out of the study window. "There's a new human down there!"

I sputtered my tea back into its cup. "Talk sense, youngster. What do you mean?"

It seemed that the excitement had got the better of Toadlon's tongue. All he could do was point, his eyes so wide that they looked like they might pop.

With a sigh, I got up from my desk. Stiff from sitting too long, I leaned on my stick to help me across the room. I nearly dropped it when I reached the window. "By the Spirits..."

There was Mario, down in the courtyard, surrounded by various guards and castle staff. A male human juvenile cowered behind him, flinching if anyone came too close. Mario ushered everyone back, said a few words to his companion, and then strode towards the inner gate, leaving the young human behind with the guards. Clutching my stick, I ran - yes, _ran_, out of my door.

* * *

"Your Highness, I am so sorry." Mario had taken off his cap, and squeezed it in both hands, his head bowed. "I was too tired. I do not remember even going to bed."

"You could at least have sent your apologies last night." Princess Peach stood by the main window of her office. The sun streamed in from behind her, making it impossible for Mario to look directly at her without having to shade his eyes. It was a trick of intimidation I remembered her father using. "You undermined my authority in the eyes of my subjects. Your loyalty to this kingdom was called into question."

"My loyalty?" Mario raised his arms wide. "I was _tired_..."

She lifted her hand to her forehead, as if she had a headache. "I _know_ that, Mario. But after the void, it's even more important to give the impression of stability in the kingdom. Something as simple as you skipping a party without an apology can have a greater effect on my people than you realise. You're their _hero. _Now, more than ever, they need to feel secure in the knowledge that you'll always be there for the kingdom.

Mario frowned, then mumbled in sheepish agreement.

The princess nodded over her shoulder at the scene in the courtyard outside. "Who is the intruder?"

"Intruder?" Mario's eyes widened.

I cleared my throat. "Master Mario, you invited a stranger into the castle grounds without the princess's express permission. That counts him as an intruder, and you as..." I stopped when Mario gave me an icy look. He didn't reply to me. He couldn't; he knew I was quoting the kingdom's law. Instead, he addressed the princess's question.

"Luigi found him in the Toadstool Forest last night, your Highness. He is from Earth."

She gasped, her hands over her mouth. "The warp-pipe to Earth has come back?"

"No." Mario stared at the floor. "He came through the wormhole that was over Bowser's castle. Because I destroyed it, he cannot go home. So, I am taking him to see the Professor Gadd, to see if he can find a way."

The princess stared at him, looking as perplexed as I felt. Professor Gadd, an elderly and eccentric human of incredible intellect, had dabbled in portal technology, that was true enough. But he'd not even come close to understanding the phenomenon of warp-pipes in our world, let alone inter-dimentional pipes like the one that had brought Mario and Luigi here from Earth. Surely, Mario couldn't hope to even think the professor could create one to send our human visitor home.

"Master Mario," I said, "perhaps you should recount a little of your adventures. We are both finding this very difficult to follow."

Mario shuffled his feet with impatience. "Bowser had a machine in his castle, for to make a wormhole to another dimension. I destroyed it. Before I did it, the boy came through the wormhole, from Earth, to Mushroom World." He rolled his eyes. "What else is there to know?"

"Why Bowser had the machine in the first place, perhaps?" I said. "This sounds like an attempt to find a way back to wherever Count Bleck and Dimentio came from. What if he was planning to re-create the void?" The thought made me reel. "He's going to attempt the wedding with Princess Peach again! I wondered why it had been quiet for so long..."

"Bowser does not want to re-create the void. It will leave him with no worlds to rule. It is not what he wants."

"Mario's right, Toadsworth." The princess looked at me. "It was the only reason that persuaded him to fight alongside us, to defeat Count Bleck."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Mario and Bowser fought - in alliance? I consoled myself that Mario destroying the wormhole-making machine in Bowser's castle had put paid to any friendship between them. "Well," I said, "Whatever reason he had in mind, it couldn't have been good, and you've foiled his plan. Thank you, Master Mario."

Mario squeezed his cap tighter in his hands. "Princess Peach, with your permission, I must leave, now. The boy must go home..."

"N... no!" The princess's protest took me by surprise. "I... I... are you sure it's worth it? I... I... mean, it's a dangerous journey, to the professor's house, and I was so frightened for you last time you went..."

Mario put his cap back on, and looked at the princess from beneath its peak. "It is not good for the boy to be staying here. He is too young to be cut off from his family. He is frightened. Confused. He is saying things about Earth that are... not good for Luigi to hear."

"B...but Mario, what if the professor..." Princess Peach stopped, her face flushed. "If he cannot help, then you've raised the boy's hopes for nothing."

"I have to try." Mario furrowed his brow. "Please, look out for Luigi while I am gone. The boy is reminding him of home. It is... upsetting him."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the princess shoot me a nervous glance. Although it had been more than a year since Luigi's last Mr. L episode, we couldn't ignore any potential risks.

"Please..."

She nodded. "Of course."

Mario adjusted his cap. "Thank you, your Highness," he said, and turned to go.

"Mario..."

He stopped and looked back.

"Mario," said the princess, "What if Professor Gadd _does_ find a way back to Earth?"

I wanted to bury my face in my hands at that moment. Mario wasn't stupid. He knew what that question meant, and goodness knows what he thought of it. He pursed his lips and his face reddened, but by the time Princess Peach realised what she'd said, he'd already left the room.


	26. Fragment 26

**Fragment 26**

* * *

So you're watching me again, Mario? Is this what you call entertainment? You think you're safe from me, looking through that window in the door? It's only glass, you know. You want a show, then? Watch me rip out this I.V., and pick up the bed and throw it against your fat face. I'm stronger than you think. Ha! Did that make you jump? Does the bed spoil your view? A pity, you'll miss watching me take these walls out. The pain doesn't bother me. It's exhilarating. Soon these walls will tumble, and then I'll be free to kill _you_, Mario.

Once I've ripped that I.V. out again. And blocked your view again with the bed. Let's see your face when the bed-leg smashes that glass into your eyes, Mario! Ah, the delightful shatter, and shouts for help! Let me move the bed away from the door. I have to see this! Oh, you're not there anymore, Mario. Are you scared, now there's no glass between us? No matter. I can reach through it now. Feel for a key. Agh, no luck. So, I'm still locked in. What? What are you walls laughing at? You're not going to hold up to me much longer. I'm better. I'm stronger! Look how you bleed when I throw myself into you. Look how your blood drips down your shiny white paint! I'll decorate you pure red, walls, then you'll look like Mario, and I'll kill you too.

When I've pulled out that I.V. again. When I can free my arms from my sides. What's this? They've... they've been bound up across my chest, somehow. When did that happen? Oh, you're back watching me, Mario. You think this is going to stop me? You think this is going to...

"Stop! It's just a memory, Mr. L!"

The blood-streaked white walls melted into the dark stone ones of my room. The locked door with the broken window disappeared, leaving the open doorway ahead of me. I found myself sat bolt upright, my arms wrapped around me, sweating and shivering.

"Just a memory," Nastasia whispered. "Sounds like it was the time you spent in the hospital." She picked up the pen and paper that had fallen from my hands onto the floor. "It crept up on you, huh? It must have been the sight of your broken foot that triggered it."

A memory? It felt like a nightmare. "It was the same thing, over and over again," I said. "How many times did I pull out that I.V.? It kept coming back. And the walls were bleeding... And Mario watching through the window in the door..."

"That was your blood, from where you kept smashing yourself into the walls," she said. "The I.V. was all that was keeping you alive. Every time you knocked yourself out, the Toads fixed the room, patched you up and put the IV back in. Luigi would wake up, and within minutes you'd take over, and the whole destructive process would start all over again. Dimentio's commands to kill Mario override your survival instinct." A sorrowful expression clouded her eyes. "That's why you can't survive, the way you are. It's another reason why I have to paralyse you."

I drew a deep breath and looked down at the pen and paper in my hands. The images had been so vivid, I'd forgotten what I'd been doing.

"You were about to write a note to Luigi," she said.

I turned the paper over, and read his note again.

_Mario is your brother._

_Luigi_

I still didn't trust it. Leaning on the table at my side, I penned my reply.

_Prove to me you wrote this. _

_Enjoy the broken ankle._

_L_

I thrust it at Nastasia. Although she raised an eyebrow when she read it, she didn't comment. I guess she expected nothing different.

"Watch your clock, 'k?" she said.

I complied, and watched the time jump forward three hours. A notepad now lay next to the clock. Nastasia didn't appear to have moved; she still sat in her usual place at my other side.

Giving her a wary look, I reached out and picked up the notepad.

_Sig. L,_ it began. I guess that meant me. Beyond that, I couldn't read a word; the next three lines, though written in _my_ handwriting, were in a completely different language. _His_ language.

I scanned through the foreign words to the next paragraph. The rest of it, I could read.

_Here is proof._

___Luigi_

_P.S. I heal faster than you think._

This led me to look at my feet. The splints encasing the fractured ankle had gone, replaced now with a tightly wound bandage. The bruising and swelling had almost disappeared. In three hours? That part could have been Nastasia's doing, of course. How did I know it hadn't been thirty days and three hours since I'd written to him? But the foreign language, I couldn't square up. If I had no knowledge of it, I doubt that even Nastasia could have had me write _that_ under hypnosis.

I compared the English words to the foreign. He'd given nothing away. Judging by the difference in length between the two sections, there was no way this could be a translation, either. He'd written something to me that he didn't want me to decipher or understand. He was probably laughing while he wrote it. I thumped my fist on the mattress. I wasn't going to let this weak-willed idiot get the better of me.

"What's the matter, Mr. L?" said Nastasia. "You still don't believe it?"

"Oh, I believe it..."

She pointed to the photograph. "Keep focused, 'k?. What were you really going to write?"

That was a good question. What could I write to him? He was inferior to me, yet he had the greater control over my consciousness. He was weaker than me, but I couldn't survive without him. I was the jewel of strength hidden inside him, yet he wanted to be rid of me. If I was going to break down this barrier and take his memory and identity for my own, I'd need to be clever about it. I doubted he'd be difficult to outwit.

I cracked my knuckles, and picked up the pen.


	27. Fragment 27

**Fragment 27**

* * *

**Apologies for the delay. Fragments is now back to regular updates of one a week!**

* * *

Human beings are complex creatures, and no human I know is more so than Princess Peach. She has the strength and wisdom to make decisions affecting the entire kingdom. She is an excellent diplomat, and has forged strong alliances with other kingdoms. Every attempt by King Bowser to kidnap her, has resulted in her coming home even more defiant than before. Even the depression she'd suffered after her misadventure in Count Bleck's dimension, served only to make her stronger.

But there are times when the most trivial of things will consume all of her thoughts; things that to a Toad, are clear cut and simple, but to a human, seem insurmountable. The morning Mario left to take the stray human boy to see Professor Gadd was one such time. Now, I've been living among humans long enough to be able to read a little of their body-language. I could tell Mario had been offended when Princess Peach asked what might happen, if Professor Gadd was successful in opening a portal to Earth. To a Toad, that is a straight-forward question, the answer to which would be that the stray human would be sent back where he came from. But Mario, being human, read her unspoken language which, roughly translated, went along the lines of - _Mario, are you going to abandon the Mushroom Kingdom?_

And then, of course, once Mario had gone, she regretted it. She worried and fretted, convincing herself that her tactless question would drive Mario to go straight back to Earth and forget about her, if presented with the opportunity. I reminded her that Mario had trusted her to keep an eye on Luigi while he was away, and suggested she do something to keep Luigi, and herself, occupied. Not that Luigi wasn't busy enough of course - he'd been doing a variety of plumbing jobs around Toad Town. But my princess did at least take my advice, and decided to invite Princess Daisy of Sarasaland to spend a few days with her at the castle. It was a good choice, since Daisy was a good friend and ally of our own princess, and Luigi seemed to enjoy her company, too.

Two days had passed since Mario had left for Boo Woods, where Professor Gadd lived. With the princess busy with preparations for Princess Daisy's arrival, I found myself with a few hours to spare, so I arranged to meet my good friend Toadington for a cup of tea, in Toad Town.

Now, Toadington and I go back a long way, right back to when we were young toadlings. He likes to hear a little gossip from the castle from time to time, and is a trustworthy confidant when I need one. There've been times when his jovial disposition has been the saviour of my sanity, and I looked forward to joining in with his cheery banter. But on that particular morning when I met him at the cafe, he looked less than happy.

"I've had no running water at my house since yesterday!" he exclaimed, glaring at me through his monocle. "Luigi's been working on my kitchen, but he was called away on an emergency, and hasn't been seen since!"

I coughed as my tea went down the wrong way. It was most unlike Luigi to abandon a plumbing job. I clung to the hope that there was a rational explanation. "And this was yesterday morning?" I asked. "Perhaps he's unwell. Has anyone been to the Mario brothers' house to see if he's been home?"

"I sent a messenger there this morning, but it looks like neither of them have been there since yesterday." Toadington leaned forward, puffing out his moustache. "It's no secret that Mario didn't appear at the princess's party the other evening. And now this... Is everything well with the Mario brothers?"

To be truthful, at that moment, I had begun to wonder. Perhaps there _had_ been something I'd missed. Princess Peach had been so obsessed with worry about what choice Mario might make if he had the chance to go home, neither of us had considered how the arrival of a human from Earth had affected Luigi. Had he gone after Mario, desperate to go home? Or had he succumbed to another L episode?

"Master Mario didn't attend the party, because he was too exhausted," I said. "But that's by the by. What I'm about to tell you now, you must keep hush-hush."

Toadington tapped his cap with his finger, indicating that he understood.

I told him the details of Mario's latest adventure, how he'd destroyed a machine that had opened up a wormhole over Bowser's castle, and how a young human from Mario's home-world had found his way here through all the chaos. I told him how Mario had taken the poor youngster to visit Professor Gadd, to see if he could find a way to transport him back home.

"A way back to Earth? But if Gadd succeeds, then..." Toadington's cup clattered into its saucer. "...the Mario brothers could go home too!"

"Precisely," I said. "I fear that contemplating this may have been too much for Master Luigi to bear. Toadington, I need you to tell me everything about this emergency Master Luigi was called to. We need to organise a search party and find him!"

* * *

I don't know what Luigi would have thought, if he'd seen the hundreds of Toads who turned out to help look for him. We'd begun with Toadington's description of an elderly koopa who'd come knocking at his door, looking for help to fix an emergency leak. Sightings of Luigi with this koopa had lead our search to a large field of long grass, just outside Toad Town. The search party combed the area until the sun set that day, and what we found there, chilled me to the core.

Ropes, tied at one end into nooses lay abandoned by a small copse, as well as broken, red koopa shells, recognised to be those of King Bowser's koopa troopers. Among the debris, most frightening of all, was Luigi's hat, dirty, trampled and torn. It didn't take a genius to conclude, that Luigi had been kidnapped by none other than King Bowser himself; although, I might add, it looked as though the poor man had put up a brave fight.

It is moments of crisis like this that bring out our princess's inner strength. She stood at the edge of that field, without a flicker of emotion as the evidence for Luigi's capture was presented to her. "Continue the search at first light," she said. She wanted as many clues as possible to help trace Luigi for whenever Mario returned. "Put the kingdom on high alert," she said. This meant curfews for the more populated areas of the kingdom, while the princess herself would retreat to the safe rooms in the castle keep. "Have this washed and mended," she said, handing me Luigi's bedraggled hat. Despite evidence that Bowser was once again active, and with no Mario or Luigi here to defend the kingdom, the princess had found her belief that both brothers would return.

Although it swelled my heart with pride to see it, I wished I could share her stoic optimism.

* * *

**A/N - The timeline for Fragments crosses that of Mario and the Spirit from the Outer Realm, which is why (if you've read Mario and the Spirit) parts of these scenes might feel familiar. **


End file.
